Shopping List

Shopping List Game - A food-themed memory and match game.

Recognize and match grocery items with Shopping List, a simple, beginner's memory & match game. Kids will fill their shopping carts with fruits, vegetables, personal items and miscellaneous items.

Most memory & match games require you to find a matching pair (2) from memory. This game only requires you to find one matching piece to a picture card (shopping list) that you already hold. It has won several awards and is made in Britain. I mention Britain only because there are a couple of words in the game that are not common to us in the U.S.: 1) shopping trolley (cart) and 2) aubergine (eggplant). 

All the pieces are 1/16" thick and should hold up very well. There are four shopping lists and each list has eight different items, making a total of 32 different products. The name is written as well as a picture of the item. Each list has six food items, a non-edible personal item (shower gel, toilet paper, toothpaste and washing powder) and a miscellaneous item (toy monster, socks, book, game). Some of the food items are apples, strawberries, tuna, milk, bread, chicken, cheese, curry sauce, donuts, sausages, yogurt, spaghetti, yogurt and eggs. 

For each of the 32 items there is a small matching card that you will put in your shopping cart as the game progresses. These small item cards are blue with the words Orchard Toys written on the back so you can quickly and easily tell if the cards are right side up as you set up. They also have a thickness of 1/16" so they are easier to grip for pick-up than a flat card would be. You could lay these small cards on the matching picture on the shopping list, but the cards are a little bigger and they will overlap.

Dimensions for the cards are: Shopping list 4 1/4" x 6 3/4", cart 6 1/2" x 5" and food cards are 1 3/8" square.

If you like this game, there are two add-on games you can buy that are related: fruits & vegetables and clothes. These games only have two carts, two lists, and 16 items each. I don't own an add-on set, but they look like they will match the items in this game in size and shape.

To read more about why memory games are so popular, read my post Memory Games. Why are They so Popular? This post also has links to the other memory games I have blogged about. 

Object:

Be the first to fill your basket/cart with the items on your shopping list.

Set up:

Give each player a shopping list and a shopping basket/cart. Place the item cards face-down in the middle of the players.

Play:

Players take turns turning over one item card. If it matches an item on their grocery list, they pick up the card and put it in their shopping basket. All other players should look at the card if it is not a match. The player turns the card back over and his turn ends. If someone else turns over one of your cards, remember where it is so you can pick it up on your next turn. Play until someone fills their cart and wins the game.

Try this:

• Look at each shopping list or each item card before starting a game to make sure the player(s) knows what each item is and is called.
• Play with only the item cards that are needed if you play with less than four people for a faster game.
• Play with one person and turn the item cards face up. Give them one shopping menu and a cart. Ask them to find the matching items and put them in their cart. If this is too many item cards to look over, start with only the eight item cards you need for one list and add in one or two per game to build up to being able to look over all of them. 
• Place all the item cards face up and ask the player to fill their cart with their favorite things.
• Place all the item cards face up and call out an item for the individual to find to fill the cart with all your favorite things.
• Place all the items cards face-up. One at a time, give the player a list and a cart and let them fill the orders until they have matched them all.
• Place one shopping cart in front of the player. Place the food cards randomly face-up on the table. Ask them to fill it with foods you might eat for breakfast (orange, eggs, juice, apple yogurt, doughnut) or what you might eat for a lunch (orange, bread, tuna, banana). Of course these meals will vary by person. Think up other categories to sort like foods that are green, foods that go in the refrigerator, your favorite foods, etc. 
• Set up by taking several item cards in the non-dominant hand and push them off with the thumb one at a time for the dominant hand to take and place. Or hold several in the dominant hand and push them off from there.
• Require the player(s) to flip the card in place, in-hand as they turn it and place it on the table top for all to see (use the fingers, not just turn the wrist). Then pick it up and turn it in-hand to place it back down if they don't need it. Or do both in-hand without setting it down as long as all see the item card.
• Leave extra space around each piece during set-up if the individual will need extra room, so other cards around are not disturbed.
• Clean up by picking up one item card and placing it on top of another card. Pick up those two cards and place them on another card. Pick up that stack of three cards and so on. How many cards can you stack and hold in your hand without dropping any? Put away in the box by handfuls.
• Work on visual discrimination, visual memory, figure ground, manual dexterity, fine motor skills, palmar arch development, in-hand manipulation, executive functioning skills, process skills, socialization skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

In the box: 4 shopping lists, 2 shopping carts, 2 shopping baskets, 32 item cards
 
If you are interested in purchasing this game or just want more information, click on the image below.