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Preschool Grocery Store Activities

Looking for grocery store activities for preschool? This creative application of grocery store ads is perfect for a grocery store theme for preschool.

Looking for grocery store activities for preschool? This creative application of grocery store ads is perfect for a grocery store theme for preschool. Includes free printables for the activity. #ece #preschool #teachpreschool #kidsactivities #printables #handsonlearning

Kids love to play shopping games. This grocery store themed preschool activity uses those grocery store ads we all get, while building fine motor skills.

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This activity also pairs beautifully with the Kidcraft grocery marketplace, if you are lucky enough to have one in your preschool or home. You can also use this activity with our DIY cardboard play shop.

Note: I first published this post on March 19th, 2009. I’m republishing now with new improved printables!

Grocery Store Activity Materials

  • Grocery store ads
  • Shopping cart and/or store shelf templates (download below)
  • Scissors
  • Glue stick

Take a bunch of grocery store ads, and have your child choose items that they want to “buy”. They can then glue the items onto the cart or stock them on shelves (see templates at the bottom of this post). Depending on the age of your child, you may need to help cut out the items.

Grocery store printable activity for kids

Store shelves template – for an older child you could label shelves or let them label shelves.

Grocery cart printable activity for preschoolers

Grocery cart template.

Grocery Store Extension Activities

My daughter LOVES window shopping, so we’ve done this activity several times. We’ve also done some activities sorting fruits from vegetables, desserts from dinner items, etc. It’s a good opportunity to talk about what makes a food item a fruit or a vegetable, which foods might go well together, what you can make out of certain foods, etc.

I have a flyer from a local hardware store that we’ll use to plan an imaginary garden – and then maybe we’ll go out and buy some materials to plant a proper garden if the snow in our yard ever melts…

Preschool grocery store activity - with free printables
Preschool Grocery Store Activities: A Creative Application for Grocery Store Ads

Have you ever done a grocery store theme for preschool? What are your favorite grocery store activities for preschool? Do you have another creative application for grocery store ads? 

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MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.

12 thoughts on “Preschool Grocery Store Activities”

  1. This sounds fun. My daughter also likes to play shopping with three-part-cards showing pictures of fruit & veggies, I put all the pictures in the living room, and send her in for 1-3 things at a time to see if she can remember and find them all. Doing this with grocery ads would be fun too.

  2. How clever! I think my three year old would have fun with this. I love the shopping cart drawing.Thanks for sharing this.

  3. Great idea! We’ll have to try it. Amelia loves playing with play food and felt board food, so I bet she would like this, too.

  4. You ARE so thrifty and crafty!!Thank you SO much for your prayers!! God bless you, friend!!Darlene

  5. What a great idea! Now that my son is in preschool, he doesn’t come to the grocery store quite as often :) but it will be perfect for garden planning!

  6. I still have imaginary gardens I planted by gluing ads in my journal when I was a bit older than Emma. I never thought of doing the same thing with food ads though!

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