How to Take Your Kids to the Store – And Have Fun!

Shopping with your kids can be fun! No, I’m serious! I actually love taking my kids to the grocery store: they’re generally calm, cooperative, and eager to learn all about healthy choices. I’ve lined up all of my best hacks and strategies to help you have fun when you take your kids to the store, too!

I do have affiliate links in this article. They support my family and I while bringing you great products at no extra cost to you!

As a quick reminder, don’t take your kids to the store if they have a fever (or have had one in the last 24 hours), or if they’ve been vomiting or otherwise showing signs of illness. There are all kinds of delivery services if you need something, from Shipt to Amazon; and our grocery store, the amazing HEB, even does curbside pickup! Please remember to be considerate of all people, including the elderly and the immune-compromised. Thanks!

What to Bring

I am going to advise you to take a few special things just so the trip can be enjoyable for you and your child. To me a bit of a snack bribe is worth it if I can shop in peace!

When my son was younger and my daughter was just a baby, I put him in the cart with his no-spill snack cup and bungee clip (so no picking up cups 100 times) with some mini marshmallows, and I faithfully wore my baby girl in a Baby Ktan. (See the full review of that Ktan – my favorite baby carrier).

Now that both of my kids sit in the stroller – they’re 4.5 and 2.5 years old, can you believe it?! – I don’t bother with a cart canopy or anything. I do use cleaning wipes for the kids’ hands and as much of the cart as I can reach, including the kid buckles; we get our non-spill water cups, and a snack cup with a bungee clip strap so I don’t have to retrieve it f it falls. I don’t think you should ever take your kids to the store without these things if you can help it! (Hand sanitizer works just fine for hands, but not so much for wiping the cart, which is how I justify using a throw-away wipe.) There are a ton of different cups and bowls you could use – find the full listing on my “Best Gear for Baby Led Weaning” comparison review.

Snack-wise, I give my kids something that’s not messy, not smelly, and not refrigerated. That usually means pretzels or baby puffs.

And heyyy you can have a special treat, too! Sometimes I just bring my coffee or tea from home in this thermos. Sometimes I grab a coffee on the way. And sometimes I buy myself some sushi (because my HEB is awesome). Or you could always just go around and sample everything! Look, sometimes when you have to take your kids to the store, you’re the one who deserves a treat.

Additionally, if you’re interested in reducing plastic waste, you can get some of those reusable produce bags like I have here. They’re really neat and I’m grateful to not have a huge wad of plastic trash when I get home from the store each week!

What to Do

Firstly, park next to the carts. I know this may seem counter-intuitive: Why wouldn’t I park as close to the store as I can? When you take your kids to the store, you also will have to leave the store with your kids. For me, that means keeping them in the cart as long as possible. If I park by the cart dropoff spot, then I’m already right there. Less walking with little ones in a parking lot. (This is also helpful when you first get out of the car to go shop!)

A side note: while I didn’t want to take a picture of a stranger doing this in the store, I will tell you that an infant car seat does NOT fit across the top (handle) of a shopping cart, facing you. This is extremely dangerous and unstable. If you choose to bring your child in their car seat, it needs to be carried separately or go in the large portion of the shopping cart. Please please please always abide by this.

Does your store have a kid friendly rewards program? This makes it even more fun to take your kids to the store. At our beloved HEB, kids get “tickets” or Buddy Bucks at the register, and can put them into the machine to win points. The points go in a little booklet, and when you earn a certain amount, go to Customer Service for a prize! My kids get so excited with this simple gesture – look at my son’s face!

When we get to the store, we first practice being safe in the parking lot. Things like this have to be practiced all the time so we make a habit out of what to say and do. Right now my four year old and I practice “Looking and listening for other cars, and looking at the driver’s eyes to make sure that they see us.” You can read more about how to talk to your kids about safety here.

Once inside, we wipe down the cart and our hands, and I clip on the “special snack cup” and have their waters ready. And off we go!

I look for simple opportunities to let my kids help while we shop. Here are a few quick ways that your kid can stay amused, and feel useful, when you take your kids to the store:

• Hand non-fragile items to your child to put in the cart
• Show your child the price tags so they can compare, identify numbers, etc.
• Play “I Spy”
• Have your child look for something that starts with a certain letter
• Ask questions about how produce grows (e.g. most fruit grows on a tree or in a bush)
• Look for three things that are green, or round, etc.
• Keep track of a written grocery list, coupons, your car keys, etc.
• Help choose a new fruit or veggie to try
• Let your child taste something new if they’re giving samples at the store
• Learn the name of an employee you see regularly – we have a friend in the bakery named Miss Rae and we adore her! We’ve made cards for her, we talk to her every week, and she gives us free stuff because she’s a sweetheart
• Show your child  “behind the scenes” parts of the store (extra storage up top, secret doors, etc.)
• See if your store would do a tour for kids!
• Use the store’s app to find an item

As scary as it sounds, I also have the “tricky people” talk with my kids while they’re in the cart. This goes back to another kind of safety: stranger danger. I don’t mean to turn this happy-go-lucky article into something morbid, but I’m always wary when we’re in close proximity to a lot of people we don’t know. And unfortunately, even when you take your kids to the store, you need to be vigilant.

My kids know that it’s perfectly ok to say “Hello” or wave to people we don’t know; it’s not ok for someone to touch them, try to take them out of the cart, or give my kid anything. We talk that all manners go out of the window, that they should say “NO!” and call for me loudly.

Again, if you’re not sure how to have talks with your kids, you can learn some strategies for opening up dialogue here, and speaking particularly about safety here.

The Produce Section – Lesson Time!

The produce section is my favorite part of the store! It’s stimulating for kids, too: from the bright colors and the enticing smells to the things to learn about, we save the produce section for last. Here are some ideas of what you can do particularly in the fresh fruit and veggies to have fun, and maybe teach your kids a thing or two:

• Pick out a new fruit or veggie to try
• Ask your child which produce they want to help prepare
• Talk about how a particular food grows and why (e.g. watermelon are a fruit that grow on a vine – they’d be too heavy on a tree!; potatoes, onions, garlic grow in the ground; etc.)
• Ask what letter a fruit or veggie starts with
• Let your child help you pick the “best” selection and discuss how to pick a ripe/superior item
• Look up a few of their favorite fruits and veggies and learn in another language

• Show where on the fruit/veggie there was a flower growing and how the flower fell off (I teach my kids that the fruit or vegetable grows where there was a “flower first”)
• Let your child help you bag, measure, count, and weigh the produce
• Show your child why some fresh items, like carrot bunches, have to be washed or “rained on” at the store (show a bright one that’s wet, and one that’s gotten dried out)

You’ll really start to get into a great routine with your kids if you choose to implement some of these suggestions. And from my family to yours, I hope that you do!

Thanks as always for sharing and pinning! Let me know your favorite hacks for when you take your kids to the store!