The Play Shop: I Ask With My Card
At a shop set up in the yard, each child asks for the equipment they want to play with by showing a picture card, plays freely with it and then trades it for something else. It builds movement skills with different equipment and picture-based communication that every child uses equally.
How to play
- Set up the shop on a table: each item has its picture stuck in front, and each child gets a key ring of cards (2 min).
- The teacher is the shopkeeper: each child shows the card for what they want and gets it with "Here you go!" and a signed "thank you" (3 min).
- Free play with what I asked for: bounce the ball, jump the hoop, throw the beanbag or float the scarf (4 min).
- When the bell rings and the shopkeeper holds up the shop card, I return my item and ask for another (3 min).
- Shopkeepers in pairs: two children run the shop while the others play, and we take turns (3 min).
- Close the shop: each item goes back on its picture (1 min).
Rules
- To ask, I show my card.
- I say thank you with my voice or a sign.
- I play with my item without taking anyone else's.
- When the bell rings, I return my item and ask for another.
Variations
Easier
For 3-year-olds, only three items in the shop and the teacher is always the shopkeeper.
Standard
For 4-year-olds, five items and paired shopkeepers at the end.
Harder
For 5-year-olds, add action cards (throw, jump, roll) so children ask for item plus action: "ball and throw."
Adaptations
- Autism: asking with a card may be how the child usually communicates, and here the whole group uses it; let them be shopkeeper with "wait" and "here you go" cards.
- Deaf or hard of hearing: the change signal is visual (shop card held up) as well as the bell, and the whole exchange works without speaking.
- Limited mobility: the shop is at wheelchair height and some items work well seated, like scarves and beanbags.
Learning goals
- Explore different skills with varied equipment.
- Communicate a choice with visual supports.
- Respect others' turns and equipment.
Equipment for a class of 25
- table: 1
- balls: 8
- hoops: 8
- jump ropes: 6
- scarves: 8
- beanbags: 8
- equipment picture cards: 25
- hand bell: 1
Teacher tip
Make the cards with real photos of your school's equipment, laminated and on a ring. Expect lines at first: open two shops if the group is large.
PatioLab has "The Play Shop: I Ask With My Card" and 8714 more activities ready to drag into your lesson and run from your phone in the gym.
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