Free Printable Groceries for Pretend Play

Sharing is caring!

I made these adorable free printable groceries for M to have for pretend play. I’ve included full instructions for assembling them as well. This post contains affiliate links.

---

Pretend play is important for children, and usually providing some simple tools to get things going helps. These grocery store printables are a perfect prop either for pretend shopping, or even for “stocking” a play kitchen…

I highly recommend printing these free printable groceries out on card stock so that they are more durable. You can either use the printed groceries designs that I made, or you can just use the template and allow your child to “design” and color the groceries. That’s perfect especially those of you without a color printer. 

WHAT YOU NEED TO ASSEMBLE THE FREE PRINTABLE GROCERIES:

• Templates and groceries printables – found below. Print the groceries on card stock. The templates can be on any paper.
• Craft knife
• A good ruler (I like to use a metal one).
• A surface for cutting on (as you’ll likely cut through and scratch/cut the surface below). I used a padded mailer,or you can use a cutting mat. 
• Glue  or invisible tape, double sided tape, or washi tape in a coordinating color. You’ll also want some kind of tape that removes easily, such as washi.
• A pair of scissors (I like to use detail scissors) for corners, and holes.

HOW TO ASSEMBLE THE FREE PRINTABLE GROCERIES:

1. Tape your template on top of the color print so that it aligns. Note: if you see through to the back paper, you’ll notice that the colored area does spill out of the lines. I did that just in case you don’t align it perfectly.

2. “Score” your paper along the dotted lines using the DULL SIDE of your knife. Note: in the photos you can see that I cut it out first. It’s easier to first score and then cut out. Scoring basically means that you’re not actually cutting the paper but weakening it along the fold lines, so that it folds a little neater. I use the back of my knife to do this. 

Use the ruler as a guide to help keep your edges straight. 

3. Now, cut it out using the solid lines as your guide, and again, alongside the ruler to keep your edges straight. Alternatively, you can use a scissor (this also works for curves) but it doesn’t do the solid lines as neatly.

4. You should now have two halves of cheese. Fold it along your score lines.

5. Glue the triangles shut.

6. Layer the triangles one within the other to make a cheese!

7. You can glue the two halves together, or, use a bit of yellow washi tape (or both.)

You now have a cheese for pretend play! 

Follow the same instructions for cutting out and scoring the cereal box. The assembly is pretty straightforward – like assembling a card box.

Again, for the milk, follow the same instructions for cutting and scoring. If you want step-by-step instructions for folding, taping, and gluing you can see them here. 

You then have an adorable set of free printable groceries for your child to play with!

If you’d like to involve your child in creating these, you can just use the template, and have your child design it using crayons and markers. This is also a great idea if you only have a black and white printer, or if you want to upcycle the template after you use it. 

Here, I cut a few circles out of yellow felt and put them in my “crackers” box. The possibilities are truly endless!

M likes to play with his shopping basket, and this worked out very well together! He had fun with them until he decided to smash them. I think I’ll wait another year before making these again (he’s two years old now.)

Aren’t these free printable groceries for pretend play adorable? If you haven’t yet, download them below:

Sharing is caring!