Big Art
CampaignToddlersKindergartners
To get Henry excited to head back to school, we went on a shopping trip for a new outfit for his first day back, and (taking Susan’s tips for prepping for preschool, it still applies for kindergarten) let him pick out his own backpack!
Getting Henry excited to do any shopping really isn’t hard. He loves it. It’s a treat whenever we go. Usually its an all day event since we live nowhere near any shopping centers. So it’s a fun outing for the day!
And if Henry knows that there’s something we’re looking for especially for him, he gets really excited. So I really didn’t have to twist his arm to do back to school shopping at all. All I had to do was mention a new backpack and he was ready to go and that was all that was on his mind until we got to Gordman’s. (Gordman’s is sponsoring this conversation and has an awesome sweepstakes below for anyone that comments!)
We ended up finding some stellar deals, especially on his backpack, on some major brand names at Gordman’s! Phew!
I also signed up for their gRewards program, which I never knew about before! Now, for every dollar I spend, I earn a point. And then I’ll get $10 for every 200 points I earn (i.e. save $10 on $200 or 5% just for being a member), plus their’s special discounts I’ll get for my birthday too!
Something unexpected.
Henry picked out a blue backpack. Seriously. I double, triple, quadruple checked with him to make sure that was the one he wanted, and that he didn’t want one of the many green ones we found at Gordman’s. But nope, he was set on the blue one. (Happy dance! Maybe this will be a year of trying new things!)
To make up for that though, he picked out all green for his first day of school outfit. Expected.
Back home, we added to the shopping excitement with a fun activity!
George got included in this too! To build the excitement, we started getting their animals ready for their first day of school too.
We traced their bodies and dressed them up for their first day of school.
George needed a little help figuring out the details of the clothing, so I made the shirt and shorts for his animals, but he colored them in and gave them a face.
Now, the real fun began. Since their animals were ready for school, the boys had to get dressed for school too!
So I traced their bodies on our roll of butcher paper.
With their outlines done, they were ready to get themselves dressed for their first day back to school.
Or for George, that’s back to daycare (a couple mornings a week).
Again, George needed the outlines drawn for his clothing. George is my colorer. He does it pretty well for his age (I think, at least compared to Henry) and actually enjoys doing it.
Henry has never been into coloring. So I was kind of curious how he would take to this activity. But he got pretty serious about it.
Something unexpected.
He wanted to see the clothes we bought for his first day of school so he could make sure he drew his picture right.
He didn’t really ask for help, but he asked for me to color with him. So I did. It was really nice to sit with him and color beside him. Working together and talking about his new outfit and all the little details.
And boy, he really got into the details.
Something unexpected.
He won’t let me take a picture of him in his new outfit with his drawing until the first day of school. But I did get both of the kids to hold up their self portraits.
Gordman’s is having a sweepstakes of a $1,000 Visa Gift Card plus $100 gift card to Gordman’s to anyone that comments below (as well as other participating blogs) answering the question:
How do you get your kids excited for back-to-school shopping?
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Gordmans. The opinions and text are all mine.
WANT TO SAVE THIS ACTIVITY?
Enter your email below & we'll send it straight to your inbox so you can access this activity later! Plus, you'll get simple activities from us every week!