Grocery Store Schooling

An errand to the grocery store can be turned into a field trip and a lesson at the same time. Image Source/Getty Images

Sometimes, we become so accustomed to the wonders of our world that we cease to wonder at them.

We carry a storehouse of information larger than the Library of Congress in our pocket without batting an eye. We pop a carton of frozen food into that gizmo above the stove, hit a couple of buttons, and presto, we’re eating a piping hot meal.

To this catalog of taken-for-granted marvels, we should add grocery stores. The staples and delicacies in these emporiums dwarf those once found in the great bazaars of medieval Europe. Heedless of the treasures at our fingertips, we wheel our shopping carts down florescent aisles abloom with food and drink beyond the wildest imaginings of even our recent ancestors.

And this cornucopia we call a supermarket also offers a bonanza of learning opportunities for children.

Supplies and Cautions

Anyone with kids or grandkids in grades K–7 can turn a trek to the grocery store into a field trip, an expedition that requires almost no preparation. All these youngsters require are a pen or pencil, a notebook—composition style best fits the hands—and some enthusiasm tempered by good manners. This means no running, no excessively loud talking, and no unnecessary handling of the merchandise.

That said, you’re ready to go.

Math

Your grocery store is a vast repository of numbers with made-to-order, hands-on lessons in arithmetic. The prices here are taken from my Oct. 13 visit to Martin’s Groceries and Pharmacy in Front Royal, Virginia.

For the pre-K set, you can conduct lessons in counting. How many rolls of paper towels are in the package? How many doughnuts are in that box on the sale shelf?

For early elementary kids, you can easily teach adding and subtraction. If bananas cost 49¢ per pound, how much will two pounds cost? If Honey Crisp apples are on sale for $1.99 a pound, how much will a pound of bananas and a pound of apples cost? How much more expensive are the apples per pound than the bananas? If the store brand of Rice Chex cereal is $3.19 for a 12-ounce box and regular is $5.29 for the same size, how much will you save by buying the less expensive cereal?

Multiplication and division for the older ones work the same way. If an apple weighs approximately 1/2 a pound, how much do 14 apples weigh? If a 42-ounce container of rolled oats makes about 30 servings, how long will it last for a family of four eating oatmeal breakfasts twice a week? Percentages can also be studied. What’s the difference in percent in the price of the two boxes of Rice Chex?

You can also teach comparison shopping by measure and price. That half-gallon of vanilla ice cream is on sale, but will buying two of them be less expensive than buying a gallon?

Have the gang write down the problems in their notebooks and then work out the answers while they indulge in a treat at a nearby cafe.

Geography Scavenger Hunt

On my same jaunt to the store, I searched for products from countries outside the United States. In just under four minutes—I knew in general where to look—I found Alouette Brie from France, Van Kaas Gouda Style Goat Cheese from the Netherlands, Astor Italian Amoretto Cookies from Italy (they happened to be near the cheeses), Mahi Mahi from Peru, and Handy Jumbo Lump Crabmeat from India.

The endpoint of this game for children is simple: to find as many products from foreign countries as possible within a given time limit. Participants must record the brand name, product, and country of origin, all the while maintaining visual contact with you.

But the game doesn’t end there. On your return home, put them on a computer or open an atlas and have them locate on a map the exporters that they found. Have them write down each country’s capital and whatever other information you assign to them.

Americans are notoriously ignorant of geography. Here’s a grocery store game that will enhance your child’s understanding of the world.

Science and Nutrition

Have the kids browse the produce section and select a favorite fruit or vegetable. On your return home, have them search their choice online to discover its nutritional value and caloric count. What health benefits come from eating grapes? What nutrients are found in cantaloupe? Can an apple a day really keep the doctor away? And what about spinach, popularized as a super-food by the cartoon character Popeye? Look online, and your students will learn how a German scientist’s misplaced decimal gave spinach its reputation for dynamite health benefits.

Check out the shelves of vitamins, synthetic and nonsynthetic. Have the children record the names of several of these, and again go to the computer when they arrive home to see what benefits they bring. Ask them questions during this online search, such as “Why are children’s vitamins often shaped like animals?” or “Are sublingual vitamins better than the standard ones?”

Markets at Work

In 1958, Leonard Read published “I, Pencil,” which told the story of the “invisible hand” that goes into the making of a simple pencil. It’s a brilliant depiction of how free markets create our goods. Older elementary school students can enjoy a short YouTube cartoon based on this essay.

The grocery store carries pencils, but you can pursue your own version of Read’s odyssey. You might, for example, consider “I, Orange.” Where do oranges come from? How do they travel thousands of miles without spoiling? How many people are involved in getting a single orange from California, Florida, or Brazil to a child living in Front Royal? Search online for “how does an orange get to the grocery store” and you’ll find videos, such as Curiosity Quest’s film, and articles explaining this fascinating journey.

An Experiment in Wonder and Gratitude

Here’s a last exercise. No notebooks or pencils are necessary for this one.

Find a place in the store that affords a good view. Ask your students to look around and tell you what they see in one minute’s time. It may be anything from loaves of bread and cartons of milk to shopping carts and rows of freezer cabinets. When the minute is up, ask them to stop. By then, they should have named 25, 30, 40 items.

Then point out that everything in this grocery store was produced by the minds and hands of human beings. From walls and roof to that bag of ginger snaps—everything. Point out, too, that thousands of people, in one way or another, helped make this establishment possible, and thousands depend on it for survival. All those whose work has created and brought these goods to this one place deserve our thanks and blessing.

Let your children truly see a grocery store for what it is: a human invention that daily provides sustenance to those who shop here.

With any luck, you’ll have just taught one of the greatest lessons of all: gratitude.