Count and figure it out together
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shopping

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Your child can join in with the shopping, and do lots of counting and finding out about shapes.

Let your child see how much things cost and let them see you pay for the shopping. Talk about numbers when you use money.

Let your child help with the shopping. Sometimes it takes longer, but he will learn about numbers.

 join in with the shopping

Getting ready for shopping

Look in the cupboards together. See what things you need. Make a list. Talk about which shops to go to.
There are chances to:

  • plan what you are going to buy

  • think about where to buy things

  • put things away when you get the shopping home.

All this helps your child practice working things out.

Writing a shopping list

Your child can help you to write a shopping list.

She can write things you need and how many you need. She can write little marks next to your numbers to help her remember what the numbers mean.

Or she can write her own shopping list to take along too.

 Shopping list
making a shopping list

Try to write a shopping list together which shows the order you will buy things in. You can think of which shops you will go to first. Or you can think of where things are in the supermarket, and which shelves come first.

Useful questions

  • How many tins of beans can you see in the cupboard?

  • Shall we have a yoghurt each? What number shall I write down on the list?

  • How many drinks have we got left? How many more do we need to last till Friday?


The supermarket

Look at the list and decide which things to buy first. Find things on the shelves.

Sort out what size tins and packets to get. Look at the numbers on the goods. Look at the prices.

shopping and counting

Count things as you take them out of the trolley. Look at the numbers on the till.

Look at the credit card numbers.

Keep the bill to look at when you get home.

shopping

Useful questions

  • What shall we put in the trolley first? Do you remember where the bread is?

  • Can you find another packet with 6 things in it, like this one here?

  • How much is that tin? How do you know?

  • How many tins did we buy?

  • How many shopping bags do you think we will need

 

The local shop

Count how many lampposts you pass on the way to the local shop.

Look at the prices in the shop window. Work out what sweets you can buy for a small amount of money.

the local shop

Look at the numbers on packets and tins and boxes. Talk about what the numbers mean. Look for numbers that tell you how many things are there.

Pack things in the bags together, putting the heavy things in the bottom and the fragile things at the top.

Useful questions

  • What sweets can you buy for your 10p? How many have you got so far? How many more have you got to get?

  • Did you get any change? What coin is that?

  • Can you find a big packet of crisps with a 6 on it?

  • Which of these shopping bags is heavier?

At home

Unpack the shopping together. Sort out where things go together.
Let your child:

  • sort the tins

  • put all the things where they belong in the fridge

  • look at the numbers on all the packets and tins

  • fold up the empty shopping bags

  • look at the numbers on the bill.

Useful questions

  • What shall we put away first? What shall we put away next?

  • Which is lighter - that big box of cereal or that little bag of sugar?

  • Will this big box fit into that cupboard?

  • If we have one of these drinks each now, how many drinks will we have left?

 

What will your child be learning?

  • Sorting out where things are
    They can use words like,
    before and after
    next to between
    above and below

  • Learning the value of coins
    to know that one little coin is worth twenty bigger ones is a very hard idea for a five year old

    She can learn to spot the numbers on the coins and to know their names.

  • Counting things
    he will learn that counting gets you the right number of things so we have one for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday ... and so on.

counting things

  • Reading and writing numbers
    numbers on packets can be easier for children to understand because they go with a number of things,
    like 6 on a multi-pack means six packets of crisps,
    and 6 on an egg box means 6 eggs.
    (This is unlike numbers on buses and telephones, because 6 on a bus does not mean 6 of anything).

  • Finding out how shapes fit together
    stacking and packing helps children see that flat things stack, square corners fit together, round shapes do not.

finding out how shapes fit together

 

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