Sounds & Smells in Supermarket

If tins, packets and jars do not have pictures on them, how else can you tell what is inside them? Consider the sounds foods and drinks make inside their packaging. Without encouraging children to shake everything in sight, let them listen to variety of foods. They will notice that liquids make a sloshing sound, rice, dry pasta and cereals rattle. Some fruits and vegetables make squeaking noises inside their packaging.

Positioning Of Food Items

All supermarkets group different types of food in different areas of the shop. Their layout is not necessarily the same as other supermarkets, but there will be logic behind it. Before going shopping, involve your child in looking through kitchen cupboards to find out what you need and encourage him to help you make a list, sorting the food on your list into various categories. Can he suggest simple categories to you, for example, drinks, fruit, vegetables, baby food, freezer food, bread and cakes, meat and fish, fridge food like milk, yoghurt, cheese etc? Take this list to the supermarket and encourage your child to suggest to you where you might find some of the simpler items you have on your list. For instance, the apples are here, can you find the bananas for me? The milk is here, so where might I find the yoghurt? The frozen food is in a freezer, so where will I find the ice cream?

Learning While Shopping

All children go shopping with their parents and others who look after them. Different shop environments therefore provide the ideal opportunity for examining, discovering, reasoning and learning. The general idea is to show your child as much as possible and therefore to spark off an interest in their environment and a genuine desire to find out why things are the way they are.

Heating and Cooking Utensils

Kitchens are usually warm places. Can your child suggest why this should be? As well as radiators giving out heat, the room is heated when people are cooking, as both the hob and the oven provide heat when they are on.
Look at all the different types of cooking utensils, avoiding sharp knives. Ask your child to sort the different utensils into various groups. They might sort them by material, mixing utensils, chopping utensils, utensils for smoothing, utensils for squeezing, utensils for draining, measuring utensils. Discuss why the various utensils are made out of different materials. Look at weighing scales – those that work like a see-saw, with weights, and those that show the weight on a dial. Why do we need to be able to weigh food?

Fridges, Freezers & Washing Machines

Look at other appliances in the kitchen, including fridges, freezers and washing machines. Can your child tell you what these are used for? Both fridges and freezers keep things cold. What is the difference? Under careful supervision, let him touch food which has just been taken out of the fridge and food which has just come out of the freezer. Point out that freezer food is at a much lower temperature and is frozen hard, like ice cream, whereas refrigerated food is simply chilled, like a cold drink. Frozen food lasts much longer.
The washing machine washes clothes, rinses the soap off them and spins them dry, by spinning the tub round and round, just like his spinning top.