Kids have active imaginations for the most part, and they learn from watching and doing long before they learn from listening and comprehending. Giving your child opportunities to mimic what they see you do is giving them the chance to learn how they learn best.
And if you’re doing something you DON’T want them to learn, good luck with that. If you’re a parent who thought they could safely swear around a young toddler, only to find out that swear was in your child’s first ten words, you know what I’m talking about.
There are multiple options in the market when it comes to play sets for children. In my opinion, children are going to gravitate towards doing what they see you do. If you do a lot of fixing up around the house or building out in the garage, a builder play set would probably suit your child. Have a home office that you spend a lot of time in? Office play set. There is one area of the house, though, that has a high probability of being used…the kitchen.
As humans, we need to eat to survive. Food is prepared in the kitchen, so your child or children will probably watch you in this environment. Maybe more intently so, depending on how hungry they are. So, a kitchen play set is probably in order in most households.
Whatever the choice, there is still something important to consider…craftsmanship.
Before you just pop into a toy store and buy a plastic play set, think about the parameters and what your end goal is. Is this for your child? How old is your child? Do you only have one child now, but your plan is to have more? Is this going to be for your child only, or is your house a hub where other friends bring their kids for play dates? These questions are important when it comes to craftsmanship.
If you have one child who is already four years old, you’re not planning on having more kids, and your house isn’t the play date house, you can probably go pick up a KidKraft kitchen set at a toy store and put it together yourself.
If not, you’re probably going to want to look into wooden toy kitchen sets. The wooden sets are generally pre made. Chances are, with nails and glue…it will hold together. When you but a plastic set, they are designed to be easy to assemble. Not to say it won’t hold together, but somewhere in that age window when kids have just learned how to walk, but haven’t learned to be gentle, they seem to have a brute strength they aren’t aware of that can wreak havoc on plastic toy sets.
Wood sets can take a beating, and that means there is an increased probability that it will survive multiple children at a play date, or last long enough to let your second child grow up to play with it.
In order to help your child mimic what they see in the kitchen, you can also give them actual wooden utensils…you could even incorporate these into your actual kitchen as the child out grows the play kitchen.
Maybe some of the utensils at slicepeelsmash.com would fit. Either way, look into giving your child a place to mimic and play!