Mommy’s Store: Where Playing Leads to Learning

Guest Post by Rachel of Thriving Home

As elementary children, my little sister and I periodically set up all belongings we were ready to part with along the wet bar in the basement. We carefully priced things like a Barbie hair brush ($.05), a half-eaten chocolate bar ($.10) or one of our Babysitter Club books ($.25). Then, we took turns being the shopper or the shopkeeper.

As shoppers, we emptied our piggy banks into our purses and perused the items, sometimes even trying to “talk down” the shopkeeper. As shopkeeper, our old school Fisher Price cash register sufficed to store the coins, but we had to do the math involved. Little did we know, we were learning basic life and math skills.

Flash forward 25 years. My 3-year-old daughter received a cash register for her birthday. So, I thought, why not play store with my her and 5-year-old son? Not only did we have a blast together (yes, I got to relive a small part of my childhood!), but we got to discuss important life and math concepts like:

– you must work to earn money

– the names and worth of different coins

– you can’t spend more money than you have (i.e. budgeting)

– basic addition and subtraction

– how to read and/or write different numbers and the $ sign

 

Here’s how we played Mommy’s Store:

1) As part of the game, I assigned each child a few tasks to do and explained to them how much “money” I would pay them. They worked diligently and cheerily at making their beds and sweeping the floor. When they returned, I doled out our pretend cash to the eager shoppers.

 

2) While the kids were “at work”, I set up Mommy’s Store in our playroom. Clearly my prices were not very competitive, considering these were used items. But I assure you I paid the young workers well, so it was a fair and balanced economy!

 

3) The kids grabbed their shopping cart and perused the items for sale. When they made a selection, I asked them to check to see if they had enough money to cover the cost. At times, they had to put a toy or two back to make sure they could afford their purchases.

4) At checkout, we got to work on addition and choosing the correct bills and coins as we tallied up the purchases. This took some help, especially for the 3-year-old. Then they helped me do subtraction to get their change.

5) The best part of the game was when we switched roles. They became the storekeeper, and I got to shop. My 5-year-old carefully made price tags for toys this time and operated the cash register. All the same lessons were repeated, except from a different perspective. My son drives a hard bargain, doesn’t he? $100 for that obnoxiously loud piano? :)

The best part of Mommy’s Store was the thought never crossed my kids’ minds that this was an activity full of life and math lessons. No, no. This was a fun afternoon activity with me that they’ve begged for again and again since.

Rachel is a stay-at-home mom who works part-time as a Family Events Coordinator at her church and co-authors the blog, Thriving Home. She enjoys playing with her three young kids (ages 1,3, and 5), creating healthy recipes, and walking with her friends.

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