Getting your son or daughter a wooden play kitchen is one of the most valuable educational experiences you can give them as a young child. Everybody needs to learn how to cook at some stage in their life, and to give your child an early interest in food preparation, cooking and cleaning up after themselves (!) can only be of benefit to them – and indeed you, when they master their culinary talents.
The major advantages of a wooden play kitchen are that they are robust, sturdy, and will provide hours of fun for your children as they stage dinner parties with their friends and their toys – eventually getting around to inviting their parents. The best wooden play kitchens are comprehensive activity centres with multiple tasks to complete and share, and can be extended and accessorised with new items to keep young imaginations flowing.
Kitchen Safety First!
Although wooden play kitchens are not the cheapest options, they are far better quality than the plastic alternatives – and much safer for your children too! Wooden play kitchens are usually recommended by the toy manufacturers only to be used by kids aged three and older, but they acknowledge that there are plenty of younger children who love to get involved in their elder sibling’s wooden play kitchen, and account for little hands and a tendency to put foreign objects in their mouth!
The safety aspect is also a reason why it is recommended that you buy a wooden play kitchen rather than attempt to make one yourself. Non-toxic paints and rounded fixings ensure that no harm can come to your children when they play with the wooden play kitchen and, not only is it more convenient to order your child’s wooden play kitchen, it avoids all the grief from impatient children asking “Is it ready yet?”
Wooden Play Kitchens are Not Just for Girls
Although traditionally women have performed the majority of tasks in the kitchen, wooden play kitchens are not just for girls. Keith Floyd, Nigel Slater, Gary Rhodes, Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay could all have been inspired by wooden play kitchens (well, probably not Gordon Ramsay!) and the next generation of budding celebrity TV chefs could be outside playing soccer right now.
Wooden play kitchens are rarely gender specific (although you can buy them in blue or pink if you desire) and, if you are concerned about stereotyping your child, purchase a wooden tool kit at the same time as you buy your child’s wooden play kitchen. Boys do not only (generally) grow up to become the world’s best chefs; they also make the best kitchen fitters too (generally).
A wooden play kitchen will introduce your child to a lifelong love of food, and enable them to develop a confidence in cooking which will be of great benefit to them in all stages of their lives – especially when they have sons and daughters of their own.