Playing Grocery Store

"Thank you for shopping with us, please come again," Twiggy said as she handed me a brown lunch sack filled with plastic food.

Since Sunday afternoon, we have played "grocery shop" nonstop.  I promise you I played for two straight hours the other morning while Z napped!

It all started when Twiggy was throwing a fit that she wanted her daddy to play Barbies with her.  But Kee was cooking dinner, so he couldn't.  I suggested that we play grocery store.  She was hooked!  I thought this would be a good opportunity for her to practice her counting skills and numeral recognition (not her strong suites at the moment).

We first had to place price tags on all of our merchandise. She chose between making a 1, 2, 3, or 4 for her price stickers.  Then she carefully set up all her wares across the toy room.

I told her we had to have money to buy the groceries (and I think during one of my last toy room purges I threw our pretend money away).  We decided we could make some "dollars."  I showed Twiggy what a real dollar looked like.  She took the green slips of construction paper, drew a face in the middle and some pseudo letters and numbers in the corners.  We were ready! 

 

Armed with her purse and shopping cart (or buggy as my WV husband calls it) she made her way through our pretend store.  She carefully selected items to put in her cart.  When she came to the checkout, we placed all the food on the table and counted it.  If she had four things, she owed four dollars.  With an older child you could actually add up the price tags, but this was too advanced for my daughter. 

Z and Twiggy shopping til they drop!

Paying for her groceries!

While playing, Twiggy learned some new vocabulary.  She learned that a "shopper" is also called a customer and that a "payer" is called a cashier.  She learned to ask the cashier what aisle  certain foods could be found in. 

And for those of you who are worried...don't worry Daddy was able to join in the fun.  We made him the bagger!  He even played the part of the customer outfitted with the pink sequin purse.  I'm just mad that I didn't get a picture!!!

Preparing for Read Across America Day

Wednesday, March 2nd is Read Across America Day!  It is also Dr. Seuss's birthday.

This "holiday" could potentially be as big as Christmas for my daughter.  She loves books!  When I say she loves books, I really mean that! 

Reading library books to her brother.

Her grocery cart filled to the brim with books!

Last year we celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday by reading the Cat and the Hat together.  She looks so little!

But this year I think we should do something more...since she has continued her love affair with books.  I have to make a confession. Dr. Seuss books are not my favorite.  The kids have several, and they adore them.  Z who is 11 months old does not share his sister's passion for paperbacks, but he will sit on my lap to listen to the entire Green Eggs and Ham book.  So I think our Wednesday will definitely be spent reading that book with a little green eggs and ham for dinner!

We are also going to make these adorable rice krispie treat bookworms found in the Family Fun magazine for Twiggy to share at daycare!  I think they are so fun!

http://familyfun.go.com/parties/by-the-book-987289/3/

I thought about taking the kids by the store to pick out new books on their way home from daycare...but I think we may have all we need for now. 

This is the amount of books I pulled out from under the covers when I made Twiggy's bed this morning!  Some kiddos sleep with stuffed animals, not my daughter.  She hits the sack with a book (or books) in one arm and booklight in the other hand!

No matter what we do tomorrow...I'm sure Twiggy will love it!  How are you celebrating March 2nd???

Twiggy-locks and the 3 Bears

I am a huge believer in the idea that children learn through play!  This morning we turned off Nick Jr and made our own theatrical representation of Godilocks and the 3 Bears!
My daughter absolutedly loves books.  The story of the 3 Bears is a favorite.  We pulled out the two versions she has:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0698113586/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link


http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0140563660/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link

First we made props...I warn you they are not the most artistic creations in the world.  I thought it was important to allow Twiggy to be part of this process and to come up with her own ideas for props.  We looked through the pages of the book and decided that we needed 3 bears.  We used some old headbands, black construction paper, scissors, and some good ol' tape to make our bear ears.  Check out Baby Bear...

Here's Mamma Bear and Baby Bear...don't worry those are safety scissors!

My daugther searched through her toy food bin for 3 bowls for the "pog" (aka: porridge).  She was sure to find three bowls and spoons of varying sizes: big, medium, and small.

She asked me to get her a dining room chair for Papa Bear. We moved the recliner for Mamma Bear's too soft chair and the play chair for Baby Bear's chair.

She had fun making three different size beds for the bears.  She even found a little doll pillow for Baby Bear's bed made from dishcloths.

She took a test run as Goldilocks finding that Baby Bear's chair was "Just Right!"

Goldilocks was so sleepy and took a quick slumber in Baby Bear's bed.

Lastly it was Mommy's turn to be Goldilocks.  After falling asleep in Baby Bear's perfectly comfortable bed, the bears returned and scared her away!!!

Acting out familiar stories is a wonderful pre-literacy skill.  It teaches children story comprehension and sequencing.  Involving your child in the creation of the props allows them to put valuable problem-solving skills to work!

After playing all day...we watched the story on youtube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg02Xj8rToE