Choosing the Right Toy Kitchen For Your Family
Preparing food and enjoying meals together is one of life's great pleasures.
Toy kitchens allow your children to participate in this daily cooking ritual while they are yet too young to help in the big kitchen.
Play kitchens are also educational and encourage developmental skills.
A toy kitchen will provide a feast for their imaginations to benefit them and all the sous-chefs they know.
Where to begin? There are many play kitchens and configurations to choose from.
Like selecting the real thing, there are many options and many choices when deciding on the right toy kitchen.
The first questions you may want to answer are about location and size.
Will this be a play kitchen placed in the children's bedroom, the playroom or elsewhere in the house? A toy kitchen placed near the big kitchen provides a more social, interactive environment.
Where does placement work best for your home configuration, space available, and traffic? That known, just how large a play kitchen will the space accommodate? Now the process gets to be great fun! You have a variety of styles to choose from.
Let's first look at some of the commonalities shared by the majority of play kitchens.
Most are designed for children three years and older.
The toy kitchens are easily played with by this age group because of the large, easy-to-turn knobs on the stoves; large, easy to grasp and pull handles; the openness of the work surface; and ease of accessibility to the cabinets and shelves.
The features of the play kitchens vary.
It is possible to keep this toy kitchen as simple as a small portable cook top easy to place on a table or chair and fold away at the end of the day, to a toy kitchen complete with stove, oven, microwave, refrigerator, sink, and dishwasher - a compact version of the real deal! The decorations will please from sweet Pennsylvania Dutch to bright red, sleek and modern.
Be aware also of how your toy kitchen may or may not be stocked.
Some play kitchens include utensils, pots and pans, paper-towel holders, play food, an apron, and no play kitchen would be complete without a wireless phone.
If your toy kitchen cupboards are bare, baskets of fruit, veggies, and a variety of groceries are available.
In addition to the outright fun of a play kitchen, there are also some more adult points of interest.
Child safety is a priority in the design of a toy kitchen set.
Most are made of wood, please check to be sure your play kitchen of choice has rounded edges and that the pieces fit together in a young chef-proof fashion.
Many toy kitchens do require some assembly; if that is a concern, please ask.
Regardless of the play kitchen design and configuration you choose for the aspiring chefs in your home, rest assured this will be a gift your children will recall with great joy (and stories) long into their adulthood.
Children learn quickly that too many cooks don't spoil the broth but rather that the broth is enriched by friendship preparing a meal together.
Toy kitchens allow your children to participate in this daily cooking ritual while they are yet too young to help in the big kitchen.
Play kitchens are also educational and encourage developmental skills.
A toy kitchen will provide a feast for their imaginations to benefit them and all the sous-chefs they know.
Where to begin? There are many play kitchens and configurations to choose from.
Like selecting the real thing, there are many options and many choices when deciding on the right toy kitchen.
The first questions you may want to answer are about location and size.
Will this be a play kitchen placed in the children's bedroom, the playroom or elsewhere in the house? A toy kitchen placed near the big kitchen provides a more social, interactive environment.
Where does placement work best for your home configuration, space available, and traffic? That known, just how large a play kitchen will the space accommodate? Now the process gets to be great fun! You have a variety of styles to choose from.
Let's first look at some of the commonalities shared by the majority of play kitchens.
Most are designed for children three years and older.
The toy kitchens are easily played with by this age group because of the large, easy-to-turn knobs on the stoves; large, easy to grasp and pull handles; the openness of the work surface; and ease of accessibility to the cabinets and shelves.
The features of the play kitchens vary.
It is possible to keep this toy kitchen as simple as a small portable cook top easy to place on a table or chair and fold away at the end of the day, to a toy kitchen complete with stove, oven, microwave, refrigerator, sink, and dishwasher - a compact version of the real deal! The decorations will please from sweet Pennsylvania Dutch to bright red, sleek and modern.
Be aware also of how your toy kitchen may or may not be stocked.
Some play kitchens include utensils, pots and pans, paper-towel holders, play food, an apron, and no play kitchen would be complete without a wireless phone.
If your toy kitchen cupboards are bare, baskets of fruit, veggies, and a variety of groceries are available.
In addition to the outright fun of a play kitchen, there are also some more adult points of interest.
Child safety is a priority in the design of a toy kitchen set.
Most are made of wood, please check to be sure your play kitchen of choice has rounded edges and that the pieces fit together in a young chef-proof fashion.
Many toy kitchens do require some assembly; if that is a concern, please ask.
Regardless of the play kitchen design and configuration you choose for the aspiring chefs in your home, rest assured this will be a gift your children will recall with great joy (and stories) long into their adulthood.
Children learn quickly that too many cooks don't spoil the broth but rather that the broth is enriched by friendship preparing a meal together.
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