MORE Printable Shopping Games!

My kids really loved the shopping games we tried last week, so I put together a couple more that had to do with rhyming.




The child must identify the picture and then watch for something at the store that rhymes with that object. For instance, SHIP would rhyme with DIP or CHIP. For HEAD, they may find BREAD in the bakery. I have two versions of this printable that can be cut apart into two games each. One is geared for a Grocery store and one is for shopping at a department store or mall. It has items like FIRE (tire) and NURSE (purse).






Hopefully these will keep the children happy while Mom shops some great Labor Day sales!

Make Shopping Fun for Kids...Printable Games!

Oh, nothing brings on fatigue and despair in my children like the announcement, “Time to run some errands!” The skipping feet immediately begin to drag and the little shoulders slump out the door. I believe horrid and boring are the descriptive adjectives for shopping that I've heard mumbled from the backseat.

I really think they would gladly bathe twice every day and color with broken crayon stubs the rest of their childhood in exchange for never going shopping again.

In an attempt to make errands less of a drudgery for them, I made up a couple of little printable games that could be carried along to the stores. We tested it out this morning and I believe my little focus group enjoyed themselves--there was not one whine the whole trip! 

We used the colorful clipboards made here earlier this week (sidenote: after three days, they are still excited to check off their chores each morning! Musta got my list lovin' genes!)

Since my 4-year-old really loves I Spy, I made a little pictorial version for her to find several objects at a store—tried to think of things that were not too obvious--a hat on someone's head, a bee (honey label), etc. 

It's available if you'd like to print it here...you just need to set up a free Scribd.com account. (This is the only way I know how to make a printable available—I wish I knew how print it from our site). If you're artistic, you could easily draw your own objects, or cut pictures out.

Color Hunt would also be great for a preschooler. Use a crayon or colored circle stickers to mark 5-6 colors on a paper. Then give your child the clipboard and a pencil at the store so they can draw or write in an object they see beside each color. Yellow - draw a banana, red - can of tomato soup. The printable for this one has a more challenging version too, incorporating a sensory descriptive word: White + cold, Red + smooth.

My first grader is loving math these days. A Price Hunt math game with a calculator kept him very happily occupied. He had to find the grocery items on his list, note the price, and then calculate the cost for the 2 of them, or 3, or whatever # was indicated.

 I made a printable version of this...but for variation, cut pictures out of a grocery flier and glue them on a paper. The best part, of course, is using a calculator! I used rubber bands to hold it to the back of the clipboard. A dollar store calculator could be superglued to the back of the clipboard, or attached with velcro so it's removable.

For kids who can spell, try an Alphabet Hunt. Write the alphabet out in a couple of columns with a space beside each letter. Your child must find something at the store that starts with each letter. Stick to alphabetical order for more of a challenge if you have several shopping stops!

If you have no time to make a game, one quick thing I've done before when we've had to hit several stores is to give each child a few coupons and tell them their Mission is to be the first to find the product pictured. 

Grocery shopping accomplished and a good time had by all.

Shared with these great blogs:

Recovery of a Germaphobe

Today we hit the ground running. By 9:30 we were making a stop at our public school followed by visits to the bank, a large retail store and the public library. I had all three kids in tow. I know what you're thinking—is this the same self-proclaimed germaphobe who wrote this blog? What is my amazing cure-all for the constant battle of bacteria? How did I conquer my paralyzing fear of parasites? How did I finally let my kids drink from a public water fountain without slipping into cardiac arrest? The answer for me is simple: perspective and more kids than hands.

I was recently thinking back to the days when I only left the house kid-free and after dark, like a mommy-phantom cloaked in virus repellent; the days when library books were sprayed with Lysol and I would rather stick a fork in an electric socket than let my kids step foot in McDonald's Playland. Recovery has been slow and steady; one less pump from my Purell, resisting one Clorox wipe at a time.

For me, I realized I had a choice to make—avoiding exposure to germs also meant avoiding exposure to everything outside the four walls of our home, and that wasn't beneficial to anyone. It also became humanly impossible for me wipe every surface and keep everyone decontaminated every second of the day. And the funny thing was, I had more kids, we were out and about more than ever, and I didn't really notice an increase in our level of sickness after all. Imagine that.

As with all things, I am searching for the balance between being responsible (I am still a huge fan of Wet Ones and my cloth shopping-cart cover) and completely throwing caution to the wind. Have you seen the child who licks the cart handle or runs barefoot in the Chick-Fil A bathroom? *shiver* I'm not to that point, yet.

There will always be a public restroom worthy of avoiding altogether. There will always be something sticky on the library book that screams for a quick wipe with a Wet One. It is hard to find the elusive balance between being smart and safe versus sealing your house tightly in saran wrap. If you've never thought twice about infectious diseases or all the scary things out there, then I applaud you. But if you're bored and want a peak into the worst nightmares of a germaphobe's world, just click on a few links here. Happy reading!

*My original blog on germaphobic behavior landed us on the Tyra Banks Show in 2007.  It was not the proudest moment of my life, but it was definitely a memorable experience!