The Shop

   This week I've been trying to do some scrapbooking on my days off, and Nora Tess has been so good about playing by herself in the playroom (I scrapbook in the same room)  It's so fun to see her imagination develop and to hear the conversations and stories she comes up with on her own.   However, I have been majorly slacking in the clean-up department so the playroom has been a complete wreck all week, with toys strung out everywhere.

   Yesterday, I decided I would need to come up with a fun game to play to help us get the playroom cleaned up.  So Nora and I went to Alco (our little store) and picked up some prizes.  I scored some great stuff in the 70% off clearance section!  This morning I made some "price tags" and put out some items in the "shop".  I told Nora to grab a purse and then I showed her the items in the shop.   I asked her if she had any pennies in her purse (which, of course, she didn't) and then I explained that in order to get pennies to go shopping she would need to do some jobs to earn the pennies.  We started out with an easy one, cleaning up the dinosaurs and she got to come over and I "paid" her for the great job.  She did 4 jobs, each worth different amounts, and when the playroom was clean (I stayed right there and helped clean up the other things while she did her jobs since this was the first time we've played the game)  I told Nora to come over to the "shop" and  choose something she would like to buy.  She chose a pink heart-shaped pillow we'd gotten on clearance for 30 cents at Alco.  It cost 5 pennies so I put the price tag down and had her count out the correct amount of pennies.   I put the number and a picture of a penny the correct amount of times on the price tags so that she could set a penny on each picture to help her count the right amount.  We've been trying to work on our counting lately also, so I'm loving this game!  Anyway, so she ended up getting to choose three items from the shop.   One of the items she chose was a voucher for hide and seek with me, so after the shop closed for the day, we went and played hide and seek for awhile.   We had a blast playing this game, and the playroom got cleaned and we worked on our counting all at the same time.   Although, I don't believe in rewards for everything, this was great for a big job like this.  The other nice thing is that I have alot of books and toys that I like to rotate, so I can use a book or toy that she hasn't seen in a month or two and it's just as exciting as something brand-new!   I love when a plan comes together and its educational, helpful and fun all in one!  Here are some pictures of us playing shop.

the shop

getting "paid"

counting out the right amount of pennies

her three purchases