3 Ways To Bring Your Child’s Play Kitchen To The Next Level

When my kitchen helper is not assisting me in the kitchen you can often find him cooking up this own creations in his play kitchen area of the living room.  We bought him a little grill when he was 2 years old that he still uses from time to time, but it’s not ideal in terms of size and scale as he has grown. It was time to upgrade this play kitchen experience. The three key ingredients to upgrading your child’s play kitchen is 1) Realistic felt or wooden food 2) Kitchen Space Or Pop-Up food environment 3) Realistic Kitchen Equipment.

Let’s explore these further. Play food has come a LONG way since I was a kid. If your child has a specific food they love, pancakes, burgers, pizza, ice cream, you name it, I’m sure it exist out there in the market. The Pottery Barn Kids pancake and egg set seen here came with a cute oven mitt, pan, play syrup and strawberries. Just what every breakfast needs. Your kitchen helper will feel like they are at their favorite diner serving up a meal.

The Kitchen Space is all about creating a fun environment for your child’s creativity and imagination to run wild. Growing up I specifically remember my orange and white play kitchen that was made out of tin! Can you imagine? The sharp edges and eventual rust would not cut it today. Children’s play kitchens today are far more exciting more realistic, parents can chose from modern, retro and even french country design kitchen sets.  The play kitchen doesn’t have to be inferior plastic either, one has the option of wood, higher quality plastic and even pop-up fabric play environments are readily available. The pop-up fabric variety can really let your child’s imagination soar. I have seen farm stands, lemonade and ice cream stands, and food trucks. After bringing my kitchen helper to a variety of food trucks over the years and the fact that he is really into playing “restaurant” which includes placing orders, understanding the checkout process, and sitting down to enjoy a meal, I knew when I found this Pottery Barn Kids food truck it would be an instant hit. Wow, he was so excited when he received this. There were two windows for food orders and there was enough space to cook inside and pass the food to his “customers”.  It’s been a real joy watching him express himself and smile ear to ear every time he plays with it.

Realistic kitchen equipment designed with your little chef in mind is the perfect last detail to bring their play food to life. If my kitchen helper makes a realistic burger he can’t deliver the order on just any old try. Food baskets from your local chef supply store or even cooking/baking pans designed for kids make the perfect backdrop to their food creations. They are durable, won’t break and provides that realistic feel to the created meal. As seen below in the Pottery Barn Kids baking pan set.

Imaginative play is so important for kids as it fosters creativity, develops social skills and supports language development. No matter what type of food your kitchen helper enjoys, making or “play” making, there are products out there to support their interests. So surprise your kitchen helper with a new imaginative product to take their play kitchen to the next level.

Products Seen in this post:

Breakfast Set

Food Truck

Kitchen Pans

Wood Eggs

Wooden Fruit Set

Felt Vegetable Set

Tea Sandwich Set 

Pasta Set

Wooden Pizza Set

Burger and BBQ Set

(Pottery Barn Products were curated by Make & Taste and provided by the company, all other products were independently purchased by Make & Taste)