Back-to-school shopping
Financial skills to explore
- Comparing ads
- Differentiating needs and wants
- Making purchases with a set amount
- Using goods and services responsibly
For children ages 8 to 9
Activity summary
Have you ever considered involving your children in the process of shopping for school supplies?
After this activity, you'll have the knowledge to guide yourself and your children in managing purchases and looking for opportunities to save and stay within your budget.
Useful tips
Back-to-school shopping is an excellent opportunity to put into practice the financial skills acquired or being acquired by your children.
Here are 4 steps to make back-to-school shopping an educational activity:
- Plan your purchases
Look through flyers with your children to find the items they need. This activity is a great opportunity to discuss prices and savings. Write down the price of the items directly on the school supply list to help your children effectively assess the cost of items they put in their basket while staying on budget. Bring a calculator to the store to help them calculate their purchases.To learn more, see Teaching your children about the value of goods.
- Plan your itinerary
There are many available options. Some choose to shop for savings from store to store, while others prefer to save time by shopping at a single store. Some stores even have pre-made bundles that include items on your children's back-to-school list. If this option is available, ask your children to determine the best purchase option (items found in flyers or bundles provided by the retailer).You can also encourage your children to buy local by shopping at a small retailer in your neighbourhood.
- Switch roles once you're at the store
Push the shopping cart yourself and let your children manage the inventory of their back-to-school list: document pockets, notebooks, pencils, binders, accessories, etc. Simply ask them questions; ask them to compare items.
Challenge them to find the product with the lowest price. Ask them to write down the price of each item on the list next to the price you established at step 1. - Check and calculate the total purchase amount
Before going to the cash, go over the list of purchases with your children. Did they find everything they need? Did they stay on budget? Ask them to use a calculator to calculate the purchase total and the applicable taxes.
Useful tips
Discounts, savings, sales—your children should already be familiar with the idea of saving money. Back-to-school shopping is one of the best ways for them to learn to save. Schools are not the only place in which education takes place.
In store, online, or by browsing through catalogues, feel free to encourage your children to think critically:
- Additional material
Price Tag Game (PDF, 715 KB)
- Compare items
Why is this item more expensive, when it's very similar to that other item? Why do you think this item costs less? Maybe it's a matter of quality, brand, features, etc. - Search for the lowest price
Compare the prices of 2 similar items or between 2 different stores. - Look at items and list them from 1 to 10, with 10 being the best option
Together, list all similar products available at a single retailer, section or in the same category. Ask your children to look for high-quality items and talk about it. - Guess the lowest price by hiding the real price
You may be surprised at how perceptive your children are when it comes to guessing prices. If they hesitate often, give them examples they understand by referring to Price Tag Game. - Stay on budget
If the total exceeds the budget you set, look for similar products that cost less. It's an opportunity to go over your priorities and play the substitution game.
Useful tips
Are you ready to go back-to-school shopping with your children? Hold on a minute. You may already have the item at home, ready to be reused. Did you think about that?
- Items to reuse for a few more years
Backpacks, binders, lunchboxes, pencil cases, rulers, scissors, calculators and all other items that are in good condition or almost new.
Teach your children about the importance of recycling certain things rather than throwing them away. Moreover, some items can be reused the following year. - Items to reuse for one more year
New or barely used notebooks, pencils and pens, labels that are still readable and bear your child's name, notepads and sports clothes. - Items to store away
Filled out notebooks, last year's agenda and course notes should be placed in a box in case your children need them in the future.
Have you recycled everything? Here are a few more savings suggestions.
- Pay attention to quantity
It's good to take advantage of back-to-school savings and buy items that need to be replaced. However, it's easy to get carried away and accumulate items that won't be used. - Pay attention to quality
It's surprising to find an item that costs much less at a single location. Make sure you are buying a high-quality item if you plan on using it for a few years.
Useful tips
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Additional material
Video on advertising (1 min, 14 s)
Television, billboards and all forms of advertisement[ 1 ] have an effect on your children's wants. Watch a short video with your children on tactics used by advertisers.
2 helpful tips to prioritize back-to-school purchases:
- Do a blind test with an item that's advertised and one that isn't
Which item wins? Which item works better? Help your children or let them draw up a list of pros and cons for both items. This way, they will become interested in the real features that make a product worthy of being purchased. - Make a fake list of purchases
List all the items your children would like to purchase in a perfect world. Based on the budget you set, ask them to make their own choices and concessions over items they want to keep on the list and those that can be replaced by less expensive products.
- In Quebec, commercial advertisements aimed at children under 13 are prohibited.[Back]