Reading for Life: Let's Go Shopping!

© Beverley Paine, 2004

Have your children put together a shopping list from the flyer in the junk mail. Younger children can cut and paste pictures of grocery items and you can scribe the words, or have an older child write them beside the picture. Take the list to the shops and ask the children to find what you need on the shelves. Asking older children to be in charge of the shopping trolley and shopping list gives them the opportunity to develop much more than reading skills. You're encouraging them to take responsibility for their own nutrition, health and well-being.

•  Extend this practice to everything you buy: toys, camping gear, new electrical items. Children love looking through advertising brochures. Read and compare the various features of each item. As adults they will need to wade through mountains of product information to work out the best buys and get the best deal for things they buy.

•  Read aloud and talk about warranty and guarantee information and why it's best to buy something that can be returned if it's faulty. You are empowering your children to be critical and aware consumers, but best of all you are demonstrating the tool that allows us to act assertively in this busy world - reading skills!

•  At the supermarket encourage the children to read the labels and compare several brands of the same item. Determine which is the better buy or suits the family's requirements.

•  Talk about why some information is large and prominent and other information is so tiny it's hard to read on labels. Ask the children to read warning labels when you get home, or read them aloud. You could also ask them the best place to store the item, or the safest way to use it. Your children will learn that reading skills can prevent nasty accidents and perhaps even save lives.