Choosing the Right Play Kitchen for Your Family
Preparing food and enjoying meals together is one of life’s great pleasures. Play kitchens allow your children to participate in this daily cooking ritual when they are too young to help out in the big kitchen. Play kitchens are also educational and encourage developmental skills. A play kitchen will be a feast for their imaginations to the benefit of them and all the sous-chefs they know.
Where to start? There are many play kitchens and configurations to choose from. Just like picking out the real thing, there are plenty of options and plenty of choices when deciding on the right play kitchen.
The first questions you may want to answer are about location and size. Will it be a toy kitchen placed in the children’s bedroom, playroom or elsewhere in the house? A play kitchen placed near the large kitchen provides a more social and interactive environment. Where does the location work best for your home setup, available space, and traffic? Knowing that, how big will the play kitchen fit into the space? Now the process becomes a lot of fun!
You have a variety of styles to choose from. Let’s first look at some of the commonalities that most play kitchens share. Most are designed for children ages three and up. Play kitchens are easily played by this age group because of the large, easy-to-turn knobs on the stoves; large, easy-to-grip handles; opening of the working surface; and ease of access to cabinets and shelves.
The features of the play kitchen vary. It is possible to keep this play kitchen as simple as a small portable stove that is easy to place on a table or chair and fold down at the end of the day, to a complete play kitchen with stove, oven, microwave, refrigerator, sink, and dishwasher: a compact version of the real thing! Decorations will please from sweet Pennsylvania Dutch to bright red, chic and modern.
Also consider how your play kitchen may or may not be equipped. Some play kitchens include utensils, pots and pans, paper towel holders, play food, an apron, and no play kitchen would be complete without a cordless phone. If your play kitchen cabinets are empty, there are baskets of fruits, vegetables and a variety of groceries available.
In addition to the absolute fun of a play kitchen, there are also some points of interest for adults. Children’s safety is a priority when designing a toy kitchen set. Most are made of wood, make sure the play kitchen of your choice has rounded edges and that the pieces fit together in the manner of a young chef. Many play kitchens require some assembly; if that is a concern please ask.
Whichever design and set-up of the play kitchen you choose for the aspiring chefs in your home, you can be sure that this will be a gift your kids will remember with great joy (and stories) well into their adulthood. Children quickly learn that many cooks don’t spoil the broth but rather the broth is enriched by friendship preparing a meal together.