Writing A Shopping List

Make the weekly shop a learning experience with your child. Involve them in the process and help them develop their writing skills early.

Doing The Activity:

When you sit down to write your shopping list, provide your child with a note pad and pen and sit together writing your list.

As you write, talk about what you're writing down "we need milk", "I need tomatoes".

Ask your child what they think you need to buy.

Take your shopping lists with you when you go shopping and refer to them as you go round the supermarket. "This says I need to get some milk", "what does your list tell you to get"?

Don't worry if your child's marks and squiggles don't look like words, your child will be able to recall what their marks mean.

How this develops early writing skills:

When children see adults writing they percieve that writing is important. This creates an inspiration to be a writer and to be part of this fascinating world of writing and reading.
By sitting at your elbow as you write, your child will see how spoken words are converted to written words and will imitate what you are doing. This is an important element of creating a desire to write for a purpose.
This activity will help your child develop an understanding of the instrumental function of writing.