What's cooking?: Benefits of kitchen play in early childhood.

Kitchen play is one of my favorite things! It seems to come naturally to most children and starts young with exploring pots, pans and bowls, continues through early childhood and develops into sophisticated pretend play. There is so much to be learned from time in the kitchen, be it real or child size and one of the best things about it is you don't need to invest in toys and materials.

Here are just a few reasons why I love kitchen play and what children gain from it:

1. Cognitive development: pouring, transferring, and covering use motor skills, problem solving and mathematical thinking.

2. Social/emotional development: You know how much you enjoy cooking a satisfying meal for loved ones? Kids experience the same feeling when pretending to prepare food for themselves and others. 

3. Healthy lifestyles: kitchen play provides the foundation for introducing nutritional meals and snacks and learning about food groups. 

4. Language development: reading and writing recipes, describing foods' appearances, tastes and textures. Language development opportunities are everywhere in the kitchen!

I recently made this cardboard box stove for Brady. It's far from sophisticated but it only took a few minutes and he absolutely loves it!

 

Can you see he helped me draw on the burners? I haven't put as much effort into yet as I planned. I'll be cutting a door in the front for an oven and adding some hooks for potholders and utensils. But still, it serves the purpose and he really enjoys it. We have a tall, thin cabinet we weren't using set up next to it for a fridge and some drawers to hold measuring cups and other kitchen tools. When we can't find it in our "big person kitchen" we know where to look for it!

 You can DIY or go the store bought route. If you'd rather not share and go hunting for something when you need it from your own kitchen, Melissa and Doug has some great true-to-life kitchen sets, tools and food. 

 

Here is the link to their HUGE selection of play food to keep any play kitchen well stocked: PLAY FOOD!

Happy Cooking!