There’s something about shopping outside that turns a normally boring experience into an adventure for kids. Whether it’s a garage sale or a booth at a fair, they approach it as if they are inside an episode on the Discovery Channel.
Among our favorites are the Farmer’s Market and the local farm stands. We have one of each very close to our house, so it’s an easy outing. The farm “stand” is actually inside of a permanent building, offering quite a large variety at any given time.
The kids always seem to be fascinated by the assortment of fruits and veggies, which is odd since they take no notice at the grocery store. At the farmer’s market, they love to go from table to table to survey everything that’s there. We take note of which tomatoes or potatoes or strawberries look the best and we check out the prices too in case that’s the deciding factor. I guess it’s a game of sorts, a puzzle, a challenge to be won. Of course, we take every opportunity to learn about new foods that they may not be familiar with. They also get a kick out of seeing the same fruits and vegetables in different packaging. I’m not sure why, but some of the things that we normally buy in plastic bags from the freezer section look different to them when displayed in those little cardboard quart containers. They might say, “Eeew, what’s that?” to the fresh version of one of their favs or even think another looks yummy when they normally turn up their nose at the frozen counterpart.
Overall, this is a great opportunity to learn new things. We practice money counting skills the ‘old fashioned way’ in this world without cash registers and plastic money. We have to add up our items to make sure we have enough cash, count out the right amount to pay and then count our change.
We find that it helps us introduce new things too. Kids just seem to be more willing to try the things we get from the farm stand or farmer’s market. They also come home eager to help prepare these things we collected during our hunting and gathering.
Living in the climate we do, there are many foods that we just don’t get fresh during most of the months of the year. We all look forward to the few weeks in the summer when we can get huge, beefsteak tomatoes ripened by the real sun and mouth watering corn on the cob. With the kids growing older and becoming more discerning, they are starting to recognize that very often it’s not the food itself they don’t like, but the way it was prepared or the brand or whether it was fresh or frozen. These lessons are best learned through experience and the farmer’s market is a great way help them with these discoveries. It makes us laugh when we’re at the table and one of them says, “Wow, I didn’t think I liked these!” or “Hey, these are a lot better than the ones we normally have!”.
And there’s an added bonus to parents. We get one of our mundane chores (grocery shopping) done (or some of it at least) and get help from willing participants! You just can’t say that every day! So, check out the farmer’s market as a great learning tool and a way to engage your kids in household activities.
Quality time comes in many forms that don’t involve large expenditures or over-stimulation. Take a new look at the ordinary things you do every day and you might find some of your own opportunities to share a new experience with the kids.
All were big hits and although they thought they were buying them out of their own money, we surprised them at the register by paying the bill. We made sure to let them know that it was for their hard work.
