Parents & Caregivers

Play helps build school readiness by introducing children to many important concepts, all while having fun:

Basic Life Skills

• The supermarket helps children develop important social skills, like building relationships, sharing, cooperation, negotiation, and compromise with other little shoppers and grown-ups.  Zones like the CHOP Medical Center allow kids the opportunity to experience real-life situations in a fun way. 

Numbers and Counting

• Throughout City Capers, we encourage visitors to practice counting while at play. As children are shopping, they learn about quantity by counting the number of items they have purchased, or add up the price of the items while pretending to be the cashier. They can also count the butterflies they encounter as they take a walk around the city streets.

Color Identification

• When we integrate activities such as counting and identifying colors, we are exercising memory recall skills. Kids may identify the orange dump truck in Busy Build, the yellow lemons in the supermarket or the black sneakers in Pat’s Shoe Store, all while drawing a connection between what they see and how they can communicate this through language. 

Distinguishing Size, Shape, and Patterns

• Pat’s Shoe Store provides a wonderful opportunity for kids to explore the concepts of size relationships, making comparisons and measurements, through something that we all share: feet!

Literacy Skills

• There are a variety of ways in which kids can practice and develop mastery of the basic skills required for literacy learning, like letter recognition and listening skills.  When shopping for items in the store, for example, encourage your child to find a fruit that begins with the letter A, or if they know any of the letters they see on a cereal box!

Nutrition

• The ShopRite Supermarket is a great place to enhance learning about healthy eating habits and to emphasize the importance of making the conscious choice to eat fruits and vegetables by allowing kids to ‘shop’ for themselves.

Motor Skills

• Busy Build provides kids with an opportunity to develop their gross motor skills, especially balance and coordination.  In addition, children practice cooperative learning here as they see how they can transport, handle, and construct alongside their peers