• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • About
  • Shop
  • Press
  • Media Kit
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

teach mama logo

teach mama

helps families connect & build bridges between home & school, by amy mascott

  • early literacy
    • alphabet
    • beginning sounds
    • phonics
    • phonological awareness
    • read-aloud learning
    • rhyming
    • sight words
  • reading
    • books
    • comprehension
      • activating schema
      • connecting
      • inferring
      • predicting
      • questioning
      • retelling / summarizing
      • visualizing
    • concepts of print
    • environmental print
    • fluency
    • non-fiction
    • spelling
    • word building
    • word consciousness
    • vocabulary
  • writing
    • creative writing
    • grammar
    • informative writing
    • tripod grip
  • math
    • computation
    • counting
    • numbers
  • science
    • animals
    • plants
    • science experiments for kids
  • Activities
    • birthdays
    • cooking
      • new for us foods
    • crafts
    • foundations
      • colors
      • critical thinking
      • fine arts
      • listening
      • pretend play
      • sorting
      • speaking
    • holidays
      • new year’s
      • valentine’s day
      • president’s day
      • st. patrick’s day
      • april fool’s day
      • easter
      • mother’s day
      • teacher appreciation
      • father’s day
      • july 4th
      • halloween
      • thanksgiving
      • christmas
    • family life
      • family fun
      • giving back
      • lunchbox love notes
      • school
    • indoor activities
    • outdoor activities
  • digital literacy
    • computer time
    • iPad for learning
  • early literacy
    • alphabet
    • beginning sounds
    • phonics
    • phonological awareness
    • read-aloud learning
    • rhyming
    • sight words
  • reading
    • books
    • comprehension
      • activating schema
      • connecting
      • inferring
      • predicting
      • questioning
      • retelling / summarizing
      • visualizing
    • concepts of print
    • environmental print
    • fluency
    • non-fiction
    • spelling
    • word building
    • word consciousness
    • vocabulary
  • writing
    • creative writing
    • grammar
    • informative writing
    • tripod grip
  • math
    • computation
    • counting
    • numbers
  • science
    • animals
    • plants
    • science experiments for kids
  • Activities
    • birthdays
    • cooking
      • new for us foods
    • crafts
    • foundations
      • colors
      • critical thinking
      • fine arts
      • listening
      • pretend play
      • sorting
      • speaking
    • holidays
      • new year’s
      • valentine’s day
      • president’s day
      • st. patrick’s day
      • april fool’s day
      • easter
      • mother’s day
      • teacher appreciation
      • father’s day
      • july 4th
      • halloween
      • thanksgiving
      • christmas
    • family life
      • family fun
      • giving back
      • lunchbox love notes
      • school
    • indoor activities
    • outdoor activities
  • digital literacy
    • computer time
    • iPad for learning
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

how to make school supply shopping fun

home / family life / parenting / how to make school supply shopping fun
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print

Put them to work. That’s right. Put your kids to work, and school-supply shopping is a lot more fun.

It’s that time of year again–school supplies have taken over every store we visit, teacher assignments have arrived, and my kids are getting nutty anticipating a change of schedule around the corner.

So I decided this year not to fight the sometimes anxiety-producing new school year preparations and instead embrace it for the sneaky learning opportunity and exciting day it can be.

School-supply shopping? Preparing for the new school year? Como se dice ‘awesome, fun, and actually really enjoyable’ when you hand over the power to three little shoppers. . .

  • School Supply Shopping Made F-U-N: Because of Maddy’s surgery, we’ve had a wacky last few days of summer. Literally everything has been on hold, including our normal back-to-school preparations.

So when I realized in a mad panic last Thursday that we hadn’t picked up one single school supply for Maddy, Owen, or Cora, I (yes, first panicked), and then I hit the computer. I created a School Supply List for each person–not as snazzy as our Grocery Shopping Lists usually are–but these lists did the job nonetheless.

Maddy, Owen, and Cora’s lists. . . ready to be filled!

I knew we’d do the shopping on the following day, Friday, rather than battle the crowds on the weekend. And I knew that if I armed Maddy, Owen, and Cora each with their own list, a marker, and their own shopping bag at the store, they’d be more inclined to play my School Supply Shopping game and not run wild in the store or beg me for everything they saw.

Here’s Maddy’s School Supply List; here are Owen and Cora’s School Supply Lists; and here is a Blank School Supply List (you can write or type in what you need). They’re all pdf’s for easy sharing.

So Friday morning, after we lazied around, read some books, and played with Brady, I called a mini-family meeting and explained what we were going to be doing:
Okay, my friends. School is right around the corner–only a few days away–so we need to do some major school-supply shopping in order to get you all prepared for the new year. Here I have one list for you, one marker, and one shopping bag.

Today’s going to be our school-supply shopping day–we’re going to hit the stores, have lunch on the town, and not come back until all of these boxes are checked. Let’s read everyone’s list so we know what we’re looking for. . .

And really, that’s it. We first hit the park so that the kids could get some sun and hang out with their buddies. Then we hit the stores. And we stopped for lunch at Micky D’s. And we really had a blast, despite the fact that we ended up going to three stores and the whole thing took over four hours from start to finish.

Will I do it again this way? Absolutely. And I’ll certainly hit the park first, put my kids to work, go out for lunch, and call it a day. An overall really awesome day.

Even though Owen and Cora are not reading even close to as fluently as Maddy, giving them the lists was helpful for keeping them focused and excited about trying to figure out words and finding their items. They each only had about four or five items that they need, so my reading of the lists before we left the house gave them a head’s-up about what was on the list.

So even though Owen can’t read the word ‘paper towels’, he knew ‘paper towels’ was on the list, he knows that the word starts with a ‘p’ sound, so he knew where to put a check in the box after he found the word that began with ‘p’ on the list. Pretty darn cool. Early literacy never ceases to amaze me–especially on my own three kiddos.

Here’s to an exciting, successful, and peaceful 2010-2011 school year! Happy shopping!

Thanks for subscribing to teachmama! Have a good one!

You May Also Like...

  • back-to-school deals at staples that families don't want to miss
    back-to-school deals at staples that families don't want to miss
  • Navigating Education in a Time of Uncertainty: A Virtual Summit for Educators
    Navigating Education in a Time of Uncertainty: A Virtual Summit for Educators
  • how to prepare your child for kindergarten -- summertime prep
    how to prepare your child for kindergarten -- summertime prep

About amy mascott

teacher, mother, dreamer. lover of literacy, fun learning, good food, and three crazy-cool kids. finder of four-leaf clovers | dc metro ยท http://about.me/amymascott
tweet with me: @teachmama

Previous Post:nfuf: BitDefender and BitMoms
Next Post:hello, school year! hello, teacher notes!

Sidebar

amy mascott profile blog

join the coolest club around:

  • About
  • Contact
  • disclaimer
  • terms of use
  • privacy policy
  • Site-Map

Instagram


our books

setting the stage for rock-star readers
raise a reader

Find Us On Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

Helpful Links

  • About
  • Contact
  • Press
  • Media Kit
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy

Follow Us On Instagram

View
Open
UMD Womenโ€™s Basketball ROCKS!! โค๏ธ๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ–ค๐Ÿ€

We absolutely love watching you play, @terpswbb !

We love watching you perform, @marylandcheer !

And @mightysoundofmd we love your music and your hilarious signs! ๐Ÿ˜ฌ๐Ÿ˜ณ

See you in Greenville! 

#terpsbasketball #terpswbb #umd #familyfun #marylandcheer #umdfamily
View
Open
Tomorrow is St. Patrickโ€™s Day!

Are you ready? 

https://shop.teachmama.com/

#saintpatricksfun #stpaddysforkids #familyfun #classroomactivities #teachmamashop
View
Open
This is how we use the St. Patrickโ€™s Day Brain Teaser Scavenger Hunt! ๐Ÿ€

Super easyโ€”and makes kids work a little for their golden chocolates! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Grab them here: https://shop.teachmama.com/product/st-patricks-day-scavenger-hunt-4-pack/

<< Tag a pal who needs to know about this and would LOVE to use it with kids or students! >>

#stpatricksdayfun #saintpaddysday #stpaddysforkids #stpatsfun #linkinbio
View
Open
and then there were six
๐Ÿฑ๐Ÿฆ๐ŸฆŠ๐Ÿฆ„๐Ÿฏ๐Ÿฐ

thank you @thewoobles for giving my mind, heart, and hands something fun to do during a really challenging few months. 

#crochet #thewoobles #brainbreak #teachersanitysaver #shescrafty
View
Open
With great sadness, I'm writing to share that my brother-in-law, Jeff Mascott passed away from pancreatic cancer earlier this week--at home, surrounded by family and friends. 

The family is very grateful for the community's immeasurable help, encouragement, and prayers over the past several months since Jeff's diagnosis. 

Jeff's obituary will run this weekend in the Post: 
https://www.collinsfuneralhome.com/obituaries/Jeff-Mascott?obId=27420280&fbclid=IwAR2YTRooCyaLTikfjLeqF4gM-GaB1amZI2OmVl1VtKLUOjWj3Wo4URD8lC8#/obituaryInfo
View
Open
Flowers and a basket of @traderjoes faves are salve for a tired and weepy soul. ๐ŸŒท

Thankful for great, longtime friends ๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿ’›

#itshardtobeahuman #thankfulheart #wlhs4evah #teacherbffs
View
Open
Almost 30 years of friendship!! I love these smart, beautiful, strong and creative women who walked with me through my early days of teaching. 

๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ’š

Thank you, Wilde Lake High School, for bringing us together way back when. 

๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿ’›

Missed you, jigofjoy ๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ’š

#weareteachers #andoneprincipal #wildelake #wlhs4evah #teacherbffs #wildelakehs #teachersofinstagram #celebratewewill
View
Open
Today marks the 4th time in 3 weeks that I have had to hang new Kindness Reminders Tear-off Sheets! 

Makes my heart ๐Ÿฅฐ!! 

Some kids come by every day and give one to a new person. Others take a bunch for the week. One 2nd grade girl comes by evey morning to tell me who she gave hers to the day before. 

Every little bit helps, friend. And every interaction matters!

#kindnessrocks #adoormadeforme #teachersofinstagram #makeadifference
View
Open
Best crew for one of the best @terpswbb games weโ€™ve seen all season! 

And of course super job by @marylandcheer and @mightysoundofmd too! 

#terpswbb #terpsbasketball #familyfun #marylandcheer

Copyright © 2023 · teach mama media, llc · All Rights Reserved