Activities for Preschoolers for Play Grocery Shopping

Grocery shopping play activities provide a way for young children to engage in pretend play that can teach them skills in a few key areas. Most activities require play foods, including plastic fruits and vegetables, empty food boxes, milk jugs and egg cartons. Use these supplies to facilitate several types of preschool play activities.

Food Sorting

Arrange a pretend grocery store with a variety of items, including plastic play foods, empty boxes from real food items and other items that kids might find at a grocery store. Set children loose in the pretend store with the goal of collecting items of a specific type. For example, you could ask them to bring back only fruits, only vegetables or only yellow items. For older preschoolers, you can start teaching about a balanced diet and ask them to pick out items that would make a balanced meal.

Money Activities

A pretend grocery store is a great place for preschoolers to start learning about money. Put price tags on the items and give children play money that they can use to buy food. When each child comes to the checkout area, help the child read the numbers on the price tag and give you the correct play coins or bills for the item. You can also start teaching simple addition with older preschoolers. For example, ask the child how much total money they need to buy an item that is $1 and an item that is $2.

Cashier

If you have a play cash register, let kids rotate through the role of being the cashier at the grocery store. The child who is the cashier can weigh fruits and vegetables on a scale, scan bar codes with a pretend scanner and collect play money from the kids who are buying the items and put it in the cash register. Lastly, kids can pack the foods into reusable grocery bags.

Shelving

Most preschoolers who have been to the grocery store have seen employees restocking the shelves. Give the kids a chance to pretend that they work at a grocery store, too. When you are done playing grocery shopping activities and games, have the kids put everything back in the correct locations. This only works if your grocery store area is arranged logically, with all the produce in one place, meat and dairy in another section and boxed goods on shelves. You can even have special hats or vests that the kids wear as their uniforms as they restock the shelves.