Childhood is a stage of life where imagination is formed, games are played, and the roles of mother, father or siblings are played by children. These games and activities play a major role in physical and mental development. Today, most children love to play pretend games like kitchen playsets, dollhouses, furniture sets etc. If your child wants their own kitchen space, you can choose a cute kitchen set that has essential features. This will make your child feel that they are the best chefs. However, these sets will also be functional, easy to assemble, safe and adorable.
Undoubtedly, kids are dreamers and playtime visionaries who are always ready to think, learn and explore via immodest plays. Giving the child a kitchen set teach kids how to organize and clean up their space, help practice fine motor skills, improve creative skills and teach them how to play together. The kitchen sets for babies or toddlers mentioned in our article are cute, sturdy and serve the best purposes. So, what are you waiting for? Go and check out.
Play Kitchen Benefits for Children
Almost every kid love playing scenarios and different roles in their imaginative play. Besides a dollhouse, a kitchen set is a good item for pretend play as it enables babies to copy their mothers how do they work in bake or cook in the kitchen.Being playing the role of the chef or home-based cook, a baby creates its imaginary world & creates countless memories.
Kitchen play isn’t just a role also exploring & experimenting with objects, colours & shapes at each time.Put a chef’s hat on his head and encourage him to cook the last desired meal today by giving him a kitchen set. Here are some of the benefits of giving the play kitchen set to children.
- Creativity and Role Play
Kitchen role-play encourages children to tell stories as they enact new situations and communicate what imaginary things are going on. It is a fun and exciting activity that expanses the baby’s creativity and imagination. It allows them to explore different pretend ingredients and imaginative recipes. They enjoy every moment and copying acts of adults.
- Fine Motor Skills
The play kitchen offers many ways for children to practice their physical and motor skills, such as using utensils and small items, holding spoons, turning the oven knob, and opening and closing doors during play.
- Communication and Language
Kitchen games give the child a chance to tell stories and express themselves artistically. Especially, group play encourages them to communicate with others about what role they are playing and the resulting make-up of communication and language development. These types of games also improve baby’s sentence formation, vocabulary, help them to learn foods names and objects.
- Social Skills
kitchen play encourages the baby, to know, what the team wants, what they said, what they are going to do. This will enhance their social development.Through games, they organize group discussions and share their thoughts, taking turns to know people’s opinions about what to cook.
- Critical Thinking
Kitchen play forces children to get solutions for problems like trouble closing the oven & refrigerator door when several items are placed inside or trying to swivel the faucet over a full sink.
- Visual Recognition
The kitchen plays give baby the chance to identify food shapes, new objects and colours. You can buy a kitchen set with a variety of accessories that encourage the baby to classify the different utensils and food types.
- Self Confidence & Independence
Providing children with their own kitchen set gives them freedom, which boosts their confidence. They become responsible for organising the stuff, keeping them clean and caring for the utensils in the kitchen. In addition to being independent, a baby also grabs leadership qualities.
- Managing, Planning and Organisation
Engaging in kitchen plays help the baby organise a variety of food items into section and determine different roles. The complete involvement in kitchen play teaches them to organize the plates and tableware for their guests. They store ingredients, plan to cook a variety of items and know the concept of proportions.
- Healthy Eating habits
The biggest advantage of giving kitchen sets to babies is that they know that eggs, fruits, vegetables and meat are the healthier food choices for them. They imagine the recipe they have prepared in a delicious way which encourages them to try it once in their real life.
Best Play Kitchen Set For Kids
1. Step2 Best Chefs Kitchen Playset
To turn every child’s imaginary world into a reality, Step 2 is continuously producing an exclusive range of playhouses and kitchen sets. Your little one cum little chef will surely appreciate every feature in this realistic kids Kitchen Playset by Step 2. It is one of the best playsets for pretending to bake & cook and engaging social play.
From the refrigerator, oven, and stovetop, your child can pretend to prepare food just like you. The complete set features a cleaning station, coffee maker station, and realistic kitchen appliances with a working door which make this set ideal for pretend play & fun. In addition, it also comes with 25 accessories such as spoons, a coffee maker, skillet, and bowls to brew coffee, serve, cook, bake and more.
It looks exactly like the original kitchen with different colours and space for different cooking functions. The fun fact is it will create fun lights and sounds when the baby uses an electric stovetop. The use of special utensils (frying pan & boiling pot) will activate the sizzling and bubbling sounds to turn the child’s imaginary play into reality.
The highlight of this kitchen set is its open design that promotes social play. The open design includes a fun pass-through window that allows kids to play in a group, therefore they activate their sharing skills. Please note that to activate sounds and fun lights, you should require 2 AA batteries that will be available separately.
Made in the USA, the kitchen set with multiple shelves and accessory anchors along with the recycling bin helps keep this kitchen set looking tidy and neatly organized when not in use.
What we like:
- All additional accessories enable the baby to bake, serve, cook, prepare, etc.
- Fun lights and sounds used in the set enhance the baby’s motor and creative skills.
- It turns the baby’s imaginary world into reality due to size, design and colours.
What we don’t like:
- The sections are a bit small to fit appliances and accessories inside.
2. KidKraft Grand Play Kitchen
KidKraft has been producing furniture and kids toys to enrich and encourage childhood through kitchen sets, dollhouses and home set for kids to learn, live, play, and explore. If you’re thinking of buying a cute pink colour kitchen set for your little angel that would be a great option. The complete set is made of wooden and MDF plastic fabric, making it strong & sturdy for last-lasting memories.
Kidkraft Grand Play kitchen set is ideally designed to fit all homes, families and backyards. This playset emphasizes classic imaginative play, alluding to technology to embrace the desires and needs of a modern child. Your toddler will surely love its working doors on the oven, washer, refrigerator, microwave and freezer, and working knobs on the faucet & stove.
The set also features a cute pink & black colour chalkboard on the freezer door which enable the baby to learn with play. From hanging hooks to storage shelves everything is just perfect & adorable. To make it more real and appealing, the brand features a real fabric curtain, faucet and pans.
Kidkraft presented play kitchen set looks adorable and beautiful at the same time. In kitchen accessories, you’ll get two small metal pot/pans, one thin metal spatula and one metal ladle. The only disadvantage they are a little flimsy. The brand is itself popular among users just because it offers heavy-quality material & child-safe paints. Furthermore, all toys exceed or meet Toy Safety Standard ASTM F963 and EN 71.
What we like:
- The combination of pink and white colours makes the kitchen set beautiful and elegant.
- The aesthetic appeal of the set is very realistic.
What we don’t like:
- It is not suitable for 1-2 year kids.
3. Tiny Land Play-Kitchen-for-Kids
Let kids put the chef hat on the head and cook a meal for their guests with this Tiny Land Play kitchen set. It is an ideal learning toy to develop the social, interactive and communication skills of a baby. It is best suited for kids three to seven years whose height is less than three. You can teach your kids about cooking, food, colours, shapes by giving them this kitchen kid set. Let them allow exploring the kitchen accessories while playing.
Talking about construction, it is made of non-toxic, eco-friendly and BPA-free wood which is great for an adorable nursery. This space & baby-friendly kitchen set is 31 in wide and 12 in deep after being installed. It features a new range hood and model stove that has a light and sounds with automatically turn off & button control. After having this set which has a microwave oven, faucet, stove, range hood, ice maker, refrigerator & removable sink, your kid would get endless fun.
Apart from skillets & cookware, the set includes various accessories, such as a chef hat, cutting foods, and apron. This exclusive design wooden play set is an ideal gift for Christmas and birthdays. It meets all chemical and physical safety tests beyond the EU EN-71 and US ASTMF-963 standards. It has been designed to satisfy the desire of the little ones to role play. Another best thing about this set, it is incredibly strong & sturdy for being made of lightweight wood materials. It is one of the classiest and western style kitchen set for little ones.
What we like:
- It is a lightweight, sturdy and safest kitchen set.
- It comes with lots of playable features.
- The set also includes 18 accessories.
- The height is adjustable.
What we don’t like:
- It is a bit small than the others.
How to Choose the Right Kitchen Playset?
We mentioned earlier that a kitchen playset makes playtime more fun and turns the child’s imaginary world into reality. Moreover, it looks realistic and adorable as well. Keep several aspects in mind while buying a kitchen playset for the kiddo. These aspects include material, size, accessories, age, space, etc. Let’s take a brief look:
- Material
Kitchen playsets on the market are constructed of wood or plastic. Think twice about the material; when it comes to plastic, it is a bit flimsy while wooden is sturdy & strong. Instead of a fragile frame, it is good to have a strong frame for baby use. Most people would think that the wood is not suitable because of its heavyweight. Keep in mind that not all kitchen sets are heavy, but frames made of pure wood or for tall children may be heavier.
You may think whether the wood is the right choice for you if you think a play kitchen won’t last long.If you want something portable or easy to clean, there’s no better option than a plastic playset. The fact is, a wooden play kitchen require extra care & special cleaning while plastic accessories or set can clean up with a damp cloth. In our opinion, pick a wooden toy kitchen set that is aesthetic and environmentally maintainable.
- Size
It is recommended by experts and manufacturers to the parents that before buying a play kitchen set, they should measure the place where the set is being installed. Due to the large dimensions, the kitchen set is not easy to open, so you need to make sure that the size is perfect for your space.You’ll also want to think about size in comparison to your baby. Toys kitchens typically tend to be large, you can find something else if have minimal space.
Some kitchen sets have curved designs to help users maximize space. Some other options are designed as one rectangle or large square shapes that can fit on a single wall. More than that ensure the size suits your baby’s height. Before making a final decision, check the manufacturer’s measurements to find the height and countertop height of the product you like in general. Some playsets are thoughtfully designed for taller babies.
- Accessories
The final and foremost is accessories that will keep in mind while shopping for a play kitchen set. Most kitchen sets offer plenty of accessories which may include a spoon, bowl, and spatulas, so on while some don’t. If you want accessories to come together then you have to increase your budget.
Kitchen Play Area Safety Tips
It is always a fun activity for kids to plan tea parties or meals for their parents & siblings. Of course, small utensils and playthings are adorable, but they can also create confusion with real things. This confusion sometimes becomes dangerous and unexpectedly harms your baby. This is why we have also listed some play area safety tips that you should teach your child before giving them a kitchen playset.
- Be sure the Plastic spoons, utensils and food is age-appropriate
Food, spoons, spoons and other items in the kitchen set are often made for children over the age of three. It is very similar to real items;the only difference is in size and realism. Due to realistic features, most babies may try to consume them. Make sure you are giving your little one play food that is large and can’t be accidentally ingested.If your child is 3 years old and his habit is to stick everything in his mouth, then you should choose bigger food to play for them.
- .Babies keep playing in the play area
Teach the child that forks, knives, pots, pans, kettles, stovetops and other items that come in kitchen sets are pretended. As we told, a play kitchen set is only recommended for a baby younger than two & a half or three. Therefore, keep original utensils & knives out of reach of children. Reaching for real utensils can cause injury, and increase the risk of burns and sudden incidents
- Inspection of frame
Check if any parts or accessories are counterfeit before handing over the baby to kitchen play. Inspection as well teach your children if any accessory is damaged, it should be kept away.
- Keep play area cleaned
Bacteria’s and germs can be formed if not cleaned properly. Teach your child that all items need to be kept in the right places and that regular cleaning is essential.Don’t forget to tell them to wash their hands after every game as dust and dirt tends to collect on them.
These are some safety and sports tips you should tell your child.
Final Wrap Up:
A kitchen playset makes baby’s playtime fun. Along with the play, they will learn, teach and explore every little thing and emotion. From cooking to serving, everything requires physical activities that will prompt children to use their hands, feet and whole body as a result of physical development.
WP Post Author
