A Healthy Freebie

     It's no secret that I like newspapers and sales ads. I do not only use them for keeping up to date on things, and for shopping. I use newspapers and ads for teaching activities too. I have used newspapers to help kids learn to spell their names, make about me collages, and all sorts of other fun things.
     As a mom of two small kids (almost 3, and almost 5 years old), I know how hard it can be to go grocery shopping with them. The kids gets so bored. If I have some time before going out to run errands, I will sit down with my kids and go through the ads. We look for things that we need, and I ask them to circle the items. We then go back and cut out the circled items, and glue them on our grocery list. Once we get to the grocery store, they have a great visual of what it is that we need. They can then help me gather the groceries, and voila, I don't have any bored kids.
     As a former preschool teacher, I loved teaching my students about healthy foods. We had our dramatic play area setup as a grocery store. We would sort the healthy foods from the unhealthy foods, make patterns with the food, etc. I would bring in sales ads, and ask them to make a grocery list (just like I have now with my own children). I would then ask each child try to find the foods from their lists, in our dramatic play area.  When they came to "check out", I would ask if each food was healthy or unhealthy. The kids loved it, and they especially enjoyed playing with the toy money. Back then, I didn't have a Healthy Shopping List template. I wish I had, because then my kids could have sorted the foods, by their food groups a lot more easier. Well now that I am a mom, I have made one and I want to share it with you!

     If you would like to grab yourself a copy, just click on the image to enlarge it. Then, with your mouse, right click and select "Save Image As". I hope this will help you in teaching your kids about healthy foods, and parents shop in peace!!!!! :D