Last year both of the schools that the kids go to participated in the Coles Sports for Schools program.

For our little public school, it was a great success

and they were able to secure much needed sports equipment,

thanks to Coles’ initiative,

so when it came around again this year, we started collecting our vouchers.

Something like the Sports for Schools program is a huge opportunity

for any school

but especially for the smaller country areas,

where funding can sometimes be a little hit and miss.

All of the kids love sport.

AJ is a footballer and the girls all play hockey, while Mal and the littlies love to play around in the back yard.

As with many large families, we tend to spend a fair amount of money on groceries.

I love that Coles is trying to give something back to the communities and that,

by our shopping with them, we are giving back too.

Ivy and Noah had not participated before

and so we explained to them how it worked

but then we thought

what better way than to take them through the process from start to finish.

Ivy and Noah like to help with the shopping.

Okay, mostly Ivy

but Noah likes to think he is helping, in his own boy way.

This often means asking every five seconds if he can go and check out the toys

or placing random things that he likes into the trolley

when he thinks nobody is looking

*cough* matchbox cars *cough*

but some days, he will have a good crack at it.

I think of it all as training.

His partner will thank me one day.

Anyway,

on this day we needed to get some fruit and vegies

and also ingredients to make ‘Mum’s Special Spaghetti Bolognese’.

This spag bol was my mum’s recipe and it was one of the first things I learnt to cook.

I’ve adapted it so I can feed everyone, so it’s evolved a bit

and the sauce is gluten free

but the kids love it

and it can be ‘matured’ with parmesan cheese

and sometimes we add avocado in there too for the adults in the house.

I might put the recipe up here if you’re interested.

Maybe I’ll do it anyway.

First things first;

We hopped online and had a look at the  Sports For Schools website

and we talked about all of the great equipment their school already has

and told them that some of it had come from the Coles Sports for Schools program last year.

Lily was in year six then, so they remembered the vouchers she collected.

Then we went shopping.

Taking (almost) six year olds shopping can be interesting.

Especially with Noah, who is a motor mouth at the best of times.

How many times can you tell someone that you are shopping

for “school vouchers”?

A lot.

Apparently.

Noah was particularly interested in the process

and loved the idea of commodity and barter.

He is definitely David’s boy.

I struggled with basic economics when I was in high school,

so to have a kid like Noah who understands those concepts now

wigs me out just a little.

Usually, when I do the grocery shopping I wander up and down each aisle.

Dave has a more efficient way of doing things.

He has a list.

We stay in one place.

The kids buddy up,

Dave gives them a couple of things to get,

says go

and off they go.

It works surprisingly well.

While they are choosing their products,

Dave and I will usually do the fruit and vegetables.

The trolley fills quickly and shopping time is limited.

We also have a system at the checkout,

Where one of the older kids will go and get another trolley,

Dave and I will stack things onto the conveyer belt

(with Ivy and Noah’s help, of course).

The other kids start putting the bagged groceries into the trolley at the other end.

Again, it works really well.

Everyone has a job.

This was Ivy and Noah’s favourite part – collecting the vouchers.

For every $10 spent you get one voucher.

Coles has days too, where you buy certain products and it doubles your voucher allowance.

Noah counted and recounted the vouchers all the way home.

The next day, we bundled up all of the vouchers up that we’d collected

and took them to the school.

The big kids took some to the high school too, which is also participating.

We talked to the teacher who was co – ordinating the initiative about what the school was hoping for,

how they were going with their tally and talked about what was on the wish list .

Last year the school collected around 20,000 points and are on par to earn that many again this year,

although the co – ordinating teacher is hoping to surpass that.

She mentioned that they had their eye on some of the bigger items this year like balance beams and netting for soccer

but that the children are encouraged to look through the catalogue that Coles provides and place the items they like onto the wish list.

She also talked to Ivy and Noah about some of the gear they received last year.

This included balls, tee ball sets and cricket sets.

I thought it was a good way to teach Ivy and Noah about philanthropy

and helping other people as well as doing something good for our community.

Coles has found an effective way of helping our schools.

Every little bit counts and we were happy to be a part of it.

Does your school participate in the Sports For Schools program ?

Do they have a wish list this year?

Please note: this post is sponsored by Coles and the Sports for Schools initiative.

Even though we were gifted some sports equipment and a Coles gift voucher and paymet for this post, our family already supported the program, regardless.

All ideas and opinions expressed in this post are mine.