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Toy Kitchens – Developing your Child’s Imagination

11 Aug 2010 1 Comment

by Adminin blog Tags: creative play, play kitchens, toy kitchen

The shops are full of toys that play music, show lights and perform on demand. While these toys may provide some entertainment for your child they don’t do much for their imagination.
If you want to encourage your children to develop their imagination and learn while they play then there are a range of imagination play toys on the market. These are toys where children will make up a story in their heads and then act it out as they play.

Children love copying things that they see adults do such as doing the washing up, cleaning and cooking. Toy kitchens are a great way to encourage creative play and are great for both boys and girls.

5 Tips for getting the most fun out of your toy kitchen:

• Put the toy kitchen in your kitchen and encourage them to mimic what you are doing while you are preparing food for them.
• Kit out the kitchen with a range of pots and pans, plastic cutlery and toy kitchen accessories
• You can buy a range of play food or you could use real food like bread and fruit
• Get your child to prepare and serve some fruit on the plastic plates
• Save up your empty food boxes and containers, such as the mini cereal boxes and margarine tubs. You can use these as additional props.

A good imagination is an important asset in life. It is important to develop your imagination at an early age to give your child a head start.
Child development research shows that children who use their imagination a lot are more resourceful and free thinging adults who are stronger at solving problems as they use their imagination to help them tackle the problem.

One of the reasons that toy kitchens are especially good for encouraging your child’s creativeness is that the range of tasks and stories that your child could make up and act out is endless.

They can:

• prepare and cook food
• wash and clean dishes
• learn about tidying up
• learn about kitchen safety
• learn the names of food and kitchen equipment

Play kitchens give children a base to start their creativity flowing and are suitable for both boys and girls. Most toy kitchens come with some utensils, but you can add items from around the home so long as they are safe plastic of course, for example beakers, spoons etc . You can also choose from a range of miniature toy kitchen accessories such as pots and pans.
The range of toy kitchens available today is huge. Wooden toy kitchens are becoming more popular and the old favourite plastic kitchens still has its fans. If you don’t have much room then you can buy individual bits such as a hob or a sink. However if you have a lot of space there are some very impressive toy kitchens available.

View Toy Kitchens

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One Comment (+add yours?)

1. BeeHappy
   Sep 03, 2010 @ 23:33:16

   My son LOVES all 4 of his Lamaze toys and gives big grins in response to the sweet smiling faces. Mommy likes that this can attach to his crib bumper so he can bat and pull and the lion never gets away. He also makes a neat noise with a ball rolling inside his head.