Shopping in Mom's pantry

   One of my kids favorite things to do at any children's museum is play in the house and grocery section.  There you have empty boxes and cans of "real food" and lots of things to play with.  I recently started letting the kids explore our pantry and dry goods shelf.  They call it "shopping" and enjoy being able to open the cupboards and look at all the items inside.  I like it because they are learning what all the foods are, where they come from and "pretend" to cook them on their kitchen table.  It is a great way for us to have conversations about different foods, what they look like, how we like to eat them all while they get to manipulate the cans and jars and produce.

This came about mostly because I was trying to think of something different to do during rainy days and it has become a fast favorite activity that keeps them entertained for about an hour.

   Last year they got this table as a Christmas present and I highly recommend it!  We got it when it was a Black Friday deal so it was a little cheaper than this listed price.  The kids LOVE it and what I love is that underneath the orange grill top is an empty table base for all the food and plates and silverware to go when they are done playing.

Fisher Price - Servin' Suprises Kitchen and Table

There is a really cool link on Pinterest of how to make a grocery storefront using PVC pipes.

So You Think You're Crafty - PVC Challenge

Isn't that awesome?  If the kids really decide this "shopping" thing will last, then I could look into doing this.  But right now our "pantry shopping" and pretend kitchen table seems to do the trick!

What real-life activities do you guys do?  Or what works for your kids on subsequent rainy days?  It really is amazing the stuff you can think of to do around the house to entertain little ones!

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