This article shares five grocery games you can play while food shopping with your child to help them feel more comfortable with different foods.

updated August 2022

Including a child in tangential eating activities is an engaging way to help them gain more exposure to new foods and to spark their appreciation for and interest in these foods.

Playing a game can be an exciting supplemental activity to the basic foundational of mealtimes and to the efforts that occur during mealtimes. It’s a chance for kids to have a positive experience with food. And, when they’re in the store instead of the table, they might touch or consider things they normally would not.

Try these grocery games to pique your child’s interest and help them develop a positive relationship with food. Adapt as necessary based on your child’s age and interests.

Grocery Games To Try With Your Picky Eater

Mystery Foods 

Collect a few items in the basket at the grocery store without letting your child see what they are. Have your child shut their eyes as they explore the foods in their hands and try to identify the item based on its size, weight, shape, and smell.

Grocery Scavenger Hunt

Turn grocery shopping into a scavenger hunt. You can use the game to complete your regular grocery list or make it a game by using some of the ideas below or thinking of your own.

Find:

• A food that starts with the first letter of your name
• A vegetable that comes in two different colors
• A food listed as “organic”
• A frozen vegetable
• Three foods that start with the letter “___”
• A food that you can’t eat raw
• The ingredients to make meatballs/lasagna/chicken soup, etc
• One fruit or vegetable from every color of the rainbow
• A fruit that is smooth
• A fruit that is bumpy
• Something you can’t pronounce
• One fruit and one vegetable that are purple
• A vegetable with a peel
• A food you’ve never tried before
• A food you love to eat
• A food you’d like to try
• A food that doesn’t need to be cooked
• A food with a nice smell

Color Finder

Provide your child with a color and then have them identify all of the items they can find in that color. Provide each child with a different color and keep score if you’re shopping with a sibling or friend. As a bonus, pick one to take home to sample or incorporate into a recipe that you select together. If your child is not ready to eat yet, go online or to the library to learn more about the food. Some kids might also like to create a story or make an art project incorporating the food.

Iron Chef

At the grocery store, your child can select one or two foods that must be included in the next meal. You can get very creative and try to include one item in every dish.

Breaking Boundaries

At the supermarket ask your child to pick out a fruit or vegetable they have never seen before or never eaten at home. Take this new food home. Select a recipe to prepare together.

Bottom Line

Don’t rush it. These steps may happen slowly and without your kiddo actually eating the food at first. It’s a process, so meet your kid where they’re at and be patient, resisting the urge to urge. Keep going and the time will come. Their interest will pique. They won’t be able to resist the curiosity. Before you know it, one bite turns into many.

To recap, if you want your picky eater to eat more vegetables, start including them in food shopping trips to the grocery store or farmers market. It’s one simple step that can make a huge difference the more you do it.