Sunday Shopping

Sunday Shopping written by Sally Derby and illustrated by Shandra Strickland (2015)

Evie and Grandma have a very special shopping spree they take every Sunday night. They put on their best nightgowns and crawl into bed with a newspaper, scissors, tape, and pretend money. Then they look through the paper and decide how they will spend their money. They take turns choosing their purchases, cutting out the pictures, and counting out the money. Evie buys something special for Grandma and lays it on the night table next to a picture of her Mama. When they spend all their money they put everything away and crawl into bed for the night. Next Sunday they’ll go shopping again.

I love shopping sprees. And this one with pretend money sounds like so much fun. What a great way to introduce kids to economics. If you don’t have a stack of play money, it would be so easy to cut up sheets of colored paper into bills and write the denominations with a felt marker. Then grab a newspaper or magazine and pick up the bargains!

Here are two other fun with money ideas.

Use real or plastic coins to fill each cupcake liner.

Trading Up Game:

Roll the dice and take that much money. When it’s still your turn you may make money exchanges (2 nickels = 1 dime). The first player to $1.00 is the winner.