Turn your kitchen into a shop by letting your child become a shopkeeper. This activity is great fun as well as helping your child with their maths, storytelling and literacy skills.

What you will need:

• A shopping basket
• Toy money or handmade paper notes
• Shopping bags

Method:

• Visit your child in their shop.
• Walk around the shop looking at the various products on offer in the pantry, cupboards and fruit bowl, and put products in your basket to buy.

Counting

Ask your child to give you a quantity of something, such as four apples, nine biscuits and 20 sultanas.

Colours and shapes

Get your child looking for shapes and colours by asking them questions like, ‘I would like to buy something round and orange’, or ‘Can you please find me something square shaped and yellow that mice like to eat?’

Problem solving

This is a good exercise for your child to work on some more difficult equations. Ask your child age-appropriate questions like, ‘I have five oranges but if I give you one back, how many will I have then?’

Checkout

Once you have chosen the products you wish to purchase, ask your child what the grocery bill is. Pay them with toy money. If possible talk the procedure through, such as, ‘It costs $8, I’m giving you $10, so you are giving me $2 change.’