I’m a big fan of repurposing junk mail into activities for my nearly 3-year-old daughter. I’ve already written about how great catalogs, free address labels, credit card promotions and holiday cards are for this purpose.
Today’s hint is one more type of mail worth saving for educational toddler and preschooler play: Weekly ad circulars.
With their detailed pictures, the circulars are a great way to teach your child the names of different types of food and other items. I do this by asking my daughter questions, like “where are the strawberries?” or “where are the Cheerios?”, that encourage her to point to the item I’m asking about, as well as by playing the “I like game” with her.
In addition, I turn the circulars into lessons on counting and numbers too, by asking my daughter questions such as: “How many strawberries do you see?” and “What number is that?”
Finally, when we’re done playing with a given coupon and deal advertisement, my daughter enjoys crumpling it up, yet another ad-related activity idea. To be sure, I’m not the first parent to realize the many uses for these free ads. For more on ad-circular play, check out these 10 ideas from Sparkling Buds and the play grocery idea over at How we Montessori.
What are your tips for turning ad circulars into activity props?
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I use them as paper to crinkle up and roll into a ball – it certainly entertains my 7 month old!