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Article By: Kelly Kirk-Xu & Emily Stevens

Grocery shopping with the little ones can be overwhelming and stressful for everyone. However, planning a few activities that make the trip a little bit more fun just might be your saving grace. Planning activities is not always easy, though.  This is why we have developed a few fun activities that will keep your little one occupied while learning valuable money skills in the real world!

Grocery Scavenger Hunt

What’s more fun than a scavenger hunt? There are tons of grocery store scavenger hunt PDFs online that you can print at home and bring into the store. You can even create a scavenger list of prices! This list can include treasures like finding a buy one, get one free coupon, or finding something that costs less than a dollar. Scavenger hunts are a great way to keep your kids excited and occupied as you check off each item on your grocery list.

Talking About the Costs of Food

You can ask your little one many questions to keep their little minds learning as you work your way through the grocery aisles. Here are a few examples to get you started:

• Which costs more- the generic brands or the name brands?
• How much does your favorite food cost to make?
• What is more expensive, the whole foods or the processed foods?

Comparing Generic Brands to Name Brands

Generic brands tend to be the cheaper option in the grocery store. However, this doesn’t always make them the better choice. Show your child the ingredients lists on both the generic and name brands. Talk with your child about which ingredients you are looking for and discuss when the generic brands are the better options and when they are not.

Guessing Game

One valuable skill to have is knowing the value of certain products. As you stroll through the grocery store, ask your little one how much they think each item costs.  As they learn more about the value of their groceries, their money mastering skills will be getting stronger and stronger every trip!  You can even invite your kid to bring a calculator to the grocery store, and keep track of how much you’re spending with each decision.  They can compare that to the budget you prepared ahead of time, and they can be in charge of staying within budget.

The grocery store is the perfect place to learn about the value of money. Planning some activities beforehand will be a great way to teach your little money master about the value of their meals (and make the trip run a little smoother).