Pretend Store Game for Multiple Age Levels

Now that I’m homeschooling two boys and also have a baby and an almost 3-year-old, it has become obvious that I will not be able to survive without multi-tasking! There just isn’t enough time to teach each subject separately to each child and still have meals on the table and clean clothes for everyone to wear.

The other day, we made a pretend store so that Gresham could work on counting money. I was able to include Aidan and Owen too, and it worked pretty well.

I asked Aidan (8) to set up a “store” on the table with small toys. I asked him to make price tags for the toys, and to make sure that each item could be paid for using only nickels and pennies (and not huge piles of nickels and pennies!).

While Aidan was setting up, I gave Gresham (5) and Owen (almost 3) each a small bowl with coins. Gresham had nickels and pennies, and Owen had only pennies. I worked with Gresham on counting nickels and pennies. I worked with Owen on counting his pennies. He is just learning to count, so it was good practice for him.

Then, Gresham “shopped” at the store. Aidan was the storekeeper, and Gresham practiced paying for items with his coins. Owen was happily entertained loading coins in and out of his bowl.

Success!

Fellow homeschoolers: How do you work on skills with multiple age levels at one time?