Fun with Grocery Ads

We've recently cut out Norah's afternoon nap (much to my dismay, but she was staying awake until 12am on days when she was napping, so it was time). Since Eli still sleeps 2-3 hours in the afternoon, I've decided to capitalize on the "alone" time if affords me with Norah.

Some days we bake. Other days, she helps me with chores around the house. We almost always read together. And lately, with many of our sweet friends starting back to school (and N feeling a little bit left-out), we've been having daily "lessons". It's been fun for both of us.

This week, while doing some routine blog scouring, I came across a great idea over at Likely Classroom. She recommended using grocery circulars to help foster critical thinking and fine motor (pre-reading) skills.

I thought it looked like fun, and I just happened to get a fresh crop of circulars in the mail, so we took it and ran with it. It was a huge hit with Norah, so I thought I'd share.

Her first "assignment" was to go through the entire ad with a marker, marking X's on all of the items she didn't like, and circling all of the items that she did like.






Next, I had her write her name at the top of a piece of paper, and I told her we'd be making a list together. The first list was of things that she liked (based on what she's circled in the ads).
She looked for the circled items again, and I circled the word, identifying the product (circling the word really seemed to help her focus on the single word, because there was SO much going on in the circular!). Then, I had her read the letters to me as I wrote them on her list. We stopped at three items (because she's three). Then we did the same thing with the items that she didn't like. (As a side note, N LOVES cucumber, but had drawn a big "X" over them. When I asked her why, she replied, "I ex-ed those for Daddy." She has been begging Jason to "please like cucumbers...they're good for you!" for months. I guess she finally decided her efforts were futile.)

Next, we turned the page, and I outlined the word "Green" in dot-to-dot fashion. N carefully traced the letters, saying them as she went along. Then, I told her we'd be making a list of green things. Again, she consulted the ad, and I circled the identifying words for the green items she chose and had her dictate the letters while I wrote them on her list.

We did the same thing with "Red", then decided to call it a day. I definitely think we'll revisit this exercise. She responded really well to it, and I'm all for sharpening those fine motor skills! Who knows, maybe I can con her into making my next grocery list!