Last Friday, we went to the craziest sale at Takashimaya’s basement atrium. Even though Sophie has truckloads of toys at home, I still wandered in to see if there were any good bargains. The best buy of the evening must be this kitchen set that was usually retailing at $59.90 but was marked down to $20! Plus it’s pink, so how can I say no, right?
If there is one toy that all kids will enjoy, it’s definitely a kitchen set. Never mind if you have a boy, after all the many chefs I know are all guys. While I picked out a pink kitchen set that’s obviously meant for little girls, I do think that children should be exposed to different toys without any gender biasness. So she does have her fair share of trains, cars, and even soldiers which were handed down from her cousin.
Even though we’ve only had the kitchen set at home for a few days, I’m beginning to see how the kitchen set can encourages creativity with pretend play.
1. Encourages Imagination
I’ve seen Sophie use her creativity as she cooks up a storm in her little kitchen. She would pick different food, throw them into her pot, sizzle away and serve it up with sauces before presenting us her dish of the day. She sure shows signs of junior master chef aspirations.
2. Interactive Play
I know I’m not alone as I hear other parents lament how the iPhone and iPad makes their kids disappear into another space and time zone when they get so engrossed with their games. With a kitchen set, Sophie and I get to spend quality time by playing together. I’ll ask her to cook something for me and she’ll ask if I want it with salt or pepper (yes, she’s learnt new words too). I’ll heap praises on her culinary skills by lapping it all up and hinting subtly that she should do the same when mama cooks her meals too. Yes hint, hint, Sophie.
3. Pretend Play
All kids love imitating their parents. Since Alexis doesn’t cook, I’m sure Sophie is trying to imitate her cooking mama. While Sophie is too young to help in the kitchen while I cook, she can do so in her kitchen without fear that she’ll burn the house down.
4. Learning
With this kitchen set, Sophie has learnt words like pepper, salt, oven and canned food. I’m also trying to expand her Mandarin vocabulary by teaching her the different vegetables in Mandarin.
A kitchen set can also aid in teaching food, colors, counting, sorting and hygiene. Don’t forget to wash those hands before you cook!
If you don’t already have a kitchen set, you still have time to hop down to Taka’s toy fair that ends on 2 Oct 2011, this Sunday, where you can choose from a variety of kitchen sets. If pink is a tad too sweet for your liking, you can opt for an orange and blue set, suitable for boys. Or how about a apple tree theme, that’s suitable for little boys and girls. They definitely come cheaper than electronic toys and gives you opportunity to bond with your girl or boy. I’m suspecting this may be a toy with some longevity in the house.
Do you have a kitchen set at home? What other things children learn with a kitchen set? Let’s exchange ideas.
Tagged: cooking set, creativity, junior master chef, kitchen set, learning, play, Takashimaya toy sale 2011
My boy loves cooking set! Thks for the info, I’m going to see if I can get my hands on a set for him!
It’s a toy that can be played for years. Good investment. Happy shopping 🙂
Kitchen sets are great pretend play toys and they really can last a long time. At 4, Kyle still plays alot with it. It is also great for language development, u can teach Sophie the different ways of cooking, the types of food, Also when she grows older, you can encourage her to ‘take orders’, that’s great for writing and spelling development as well.
A really versatile toy that lasts, I like! I remembered pretending to have my own restaurant when I was young and I would double up ad the chef and waitress. Lots of fun!
my girl has one we bought long ago from toysRus… if only we waited for this great deal!
she doesn’t cook much… her favourite part was pretending to wash her hands in the pretend sink that comes with it… wash plates, wash cups, wash hands… i do hope she grows up helping me to wash the REAL dishes too!
My daughter also loves her kitchen play set. I bought her the kitchen play set when she was showing interest in playing with my real kitchen utensils and tools so we decided to get her own kitchen set. It was nice because the kitchen play set we bought has complete kitchen toys such as utensils, pots, and other kitchen tools. My daughter really enjoyed her time playing with the kitchen set and I hope this will help her develop her cooking skills as well in the future.