Supermarket

Read field notes about this activity

Let's Pretend: Place:.

Props: A large supply of plastic fruit, meals, vegetables, cans, cartons, boxes, and cooked foods to help suggest a large food store. It is best if you have at least two of everything.

Your Role: Travel guide and coach.

Directions: Lay out all the supermarket materials. Either show the materials to the child one by one or let him or her explore all the materials. This activity is focused on letting your child lead the way. So, unless the child has virtually no ideas, your job is to allow the child to establish the setting, who he or she is, and who you are. Once you know what is happening, your job is to follow along. When your child stops being interested in the materials or the enactment, you may end the activity.

Goals for You: Your task is to present the materials and then sit back and let the material spark the action. You may need to introduce the activity and say that anything can happen and you'd like your child to play with this plastic food, but often we've found that the food can be extraordinarily exciting.

Goals for Children: Because this food is very "replica"-like, your child may be stimulated to shop, to prepare, to eat, to serve, to purchase, etc. Probably your child has participated in one or more of these food-related activities. The replica food can give him or her the opportunity to recreate familiar activities (and recall images of this activity) and/or to create activities that he or she has always wished to do (and to create imagination images from which to work).

Possible Strategy:

What to say "Here's some objects that look like real food. What can we do with this? Who can you be? Where can you be?"

What to do Lay out all the food and step back.

Possible Shaping:

What to say "I can tell that you are doing x. Great! What else should happen? Who am I?"

What to do: Even if you have no idea what's going on, let the child continue. We have seen this activity go on for long periods of time, with sorting, ordering, and observing the focus of the task.

Possible Ending:

What to say: "Boy, we did a lot of things. What part of what you did did you like the best?"

What to do: Pack up the food carefully. Make sure that by your manipulating of the material, you signify its importance.

Material on this site created by Helane S. Rosenberg, Ph.D. and Yakov M. Epstein, Ph.D. in conjunction with their forthcoming book titled Play for Success. All material on this site is copyrighted and may not be reproduced or cited without written permission of Helane S. Rosenberg, Ph.D.. Dr. Rosenberg is Associate Professor of Education at the Graduate School of Education of Rutgers-The State University, New Brunswick, NJ. Dr. Epstein is Professor of Psychology in the Faculty of Arts and Science of Rutgers-The State University, New Brunswick, NJ. He is also Director of the Center for Mathematics, Science, and Computer Education of Rutgers University.

* SEND EMAIL TO DR. ROSENBERG * SEND EMAIL TO DR. EPSTEIN

Home | Chat Room | Children's Stories