Shopping on a budget (Orchard Toys Shopping List)

Member Name: belglen

Product:	Orchard Toys Shopping List
Date:	29/07/08 (84 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Educational, fun, easy to play

Disadvantages: None

Shopping List from Orchard Toys was one of the great successes from our family Christmas.

My 2 oldest children aged 7 and 5 both got an Orchard Toys game for Christmas 2007. The older child a girl got Tummy Ache, and the younger a boy got Shopping List.

We were first introduced to Orchard Toys by my 5 year old's nursery school. They provide Story Sacks for the children to take home, a large number of the Story Sacks contain a game from Orchard Toys. The games are supposed to be fun and educational and I couldn't agree more.

Shopping List, cost me around £4.99 from Smyth's Toys. It is a memory game aimed at 3-7 year olds, and for 2-4 players. The box is quite small but is brightly coloured and pleasing to look at. The game contains 4 shopping trolleys (cardboard), 4 shopping lists (a bit like colourful menu cards, cardboard), there are also 32 item tiles, and a set of instructions. There are not too many pieces and they are just the right size for small hands, but nothing too fiddly. No complicated bits to put together and no large board to set up.

Basically the point of the game is to fill your trolley with all the items on your shopping list, 8 items on each list. The item cards are placed face down then turned over by each player on their go. If you reveal one of your items you can place it in your trolley, you can only put an item in your trolley when it is your go. If someone else reveals one of your cards they will return it face down and you try to remember where it is.

I think what most appealed to my 5-year-old is that the instructions state that the youngest should start the game.

We have had lots of great fun doing our weekly shop. I think one of the real plus points with the game is that it doesn't last very long so small people don't get bored waiting for a winner. Also the rules are very straightforward, although sometimes in our house there is a little bit of cheating.

I would thoroughly recommend Shopping List to any parents with children aged 3-7. My 7 year old likes to think she is too old to play with her brother but she really enjoys this game and is more than willing to take part when the box is brought out.

I have also found out that you can buy a supplementary set, which is based around clothes shopping and can be used in conjunction with the original pack.

This review may also appear elsewhere.

Summary: A really fun family game.