Little ones love to mimic adult activities through pretend play and this adorable toy grocery cart definitely delivers! Kids can imagine that they’re strolling through the grocery store with their make-believe coffee cup at hand, and explore features that support motor skills and developmental milestones. No wonder it’s our Melissa’s Pick of the Month!
You’ll Love This Award-Winning Toy
When your child plays with this Melissa & Doug toy for toddlers, you can feel good knowing that a number of toy experts have selected the Wooden Shape Sorting Grocery Cart as one of the outstanding toys in 2022.
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Named by Toy Insider as a Top Holiday Toy
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Winner of the Good Housekeeping Best Toy Award
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Winner of Parents Best Toy Award
Getting the Most From Play
Whether children are engaged in sensory, matching, or pretend play activities, this award-winning toy is designed to grow along with them. Kids ages 12 months and older can get a lot of mileage out of its skill-building features that will continue to challenge them and help them develop in key areas during those critical stages of learning-through-play years.
Play Basics
This cheery and sturdy wooden grocery cart is filled with fun skill-building activities!
Why Kids Will Love The Wooden Shape Sorting Grocery Cart
There are so many ways to play! Kids can engage in pretend play as they do their grocery shopping or delight in shape sorting or puzzle solving, or practice walking as they push the cart along to accomplish their very important missions throughout the house.
Playful Details
Melissa & Doug infant and toddler toys are designed to inspire “a-ha!” moments of discovery and joy, and this 16-piece set offers endless opportunities for this exploration. It features two chunky puzzle boards, 12 wooden chunky shape-sorting puzzle pieces, a built-in matching game roller drum, and a play coffee cup with lid. As little ones grow, they can use the cart as a push toy as they explore their surroundings.
Age: 1+ years
Skills at Play
Toddlers are starting to explore their world through their visual and tactile senses, which is why they love to categorize objects by patterns, colors, and shapes. As they sort the pieces through cart sides or fit them into puzzle boards, they’re practicing fine and gross motor skills, problem-solving, color and shape recognition, sorting and sequencing, counting, and more. They can spin the built-in roller drum for sensory stimulation and matching games, and enhance imitative pretend play with a realistic coffee cup with removable lid that fits in a cup holder in the cart.
The toy grocery cart makes a great gift for infants and toddlers, ages 12 months and older, for hands-on, screen-free play and developmental skill-building.
How to Get the Playing Started
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Initially sit back and observe how your child is playing with the toy and what interests them. Taking their cues, offer some structure so they can have guidance as they play on their own and periodically check in with you.
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Give your child little hints such as showing them how to solve a puzzle. Eventually they’ll be able to do this on their own.
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Offer ideas such as placing the puzzle pieces inside the coffee cup, creating stacks of three, or sorting items by color.
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Play along by counting, saying ABCs, or identifying images on the puzzle pieces.
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Prompt with statements like, “What do you do with a cup?” or “Look! I’m drinking from my cup, too!”
The Buzz
“My toddler loves this shopping cart. It was super quick and easy to set up, it’s nice and sturdy. She loves to push it all over the house with the shapes and her stuffed animals inside. The fact that you can use it as a shape sorter, use the shapes in the puzzle, and push the cart around are great. It’s like three toys in one!”
