Helping to Cook with Play Food in the Kitchen

Children love to watch and copy adults, it is all part of the process of growing up and helps to develop role play skills in the development of a child. With the myriad of toys available to children it is often wise to select ones that have good play value and educational qualities like building blocks, play food and kitchens. Certain activities that might be seen as part of the daily grind that adults have to endure can be fascinating to children as they seek out new experiences and challenges. One such everyday activity that children often take an interest in is preparing and cooking food. This can sometimes be inconvenient as having a toddler or pre-school child trying to be part of the food prep process can be quite stressful particularly when there might be hot pans, ovens and sharp knives within their grasp. One way to allow a child to help in the cooking process is to set them up with their own area in the kitchen near to where you are working and providing them with some pretend play food and pots. In this scenario a child can copy mummy or daddy from a safe distant creating their own special recipes ready to serve to their guests. Play food is a great social toy as well, groups of children with or without adults can have hours of fun having pretend lunches, dinners or afternoon tea. The whole pretend food experience can be enhanced when used in conjunction with a play kitchen.

There are many pretend food and kitchen items available, from simple fruit and vegetables to BBQ sets, ice-creams and pizzas. Wooden play food is particularly desirable, some pieces are classed as cut and play, this means they have velcro fastened sections that children can pretend to cut and then serve, for example, a wooden birthday cake. There are many manufacturers of play food including; Pintoy, I'm Toy, Plan Toys and John Crane.

All in all play food can be a very useful toy that can help to develop a child's social and mental skills whilst keeping them from under your feet around the kitchen.