Frederick Jace
Young children love to use their imaginations. Pretending is lots of fun, but it’s more than that. It’s a vital part of early childhood development, furthering a child’s social and cognitive skills long before they enter school. A great way to encourage imaginative play at home is by giving your toddler a play kitchen.
A play kitchen offers you and your child a host of benefits. You get to enjoy watching your child pretend, explore, and learn, while your child can experiment, gain an appreciation for healthy eating, and enjoy the other benefits discussed below.
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Develop Fine and Gross Motor Skills
Kids love to mimic what their parents do, and if yours have ever watched you prepare meals in the kitchen, they will likely pretend to chop, fry, sauté, and serve up yummy imaginary meals just like you.
Obviously, it will depend on the type of play cookware your child’s kitchen includes, but nonetheless, kids love doing what they see you do in the kitchen, which encourages the use of both fine and gross motor skills.
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Encourage Creativity and Imagination
Think about all the things you do as an adult. From problem-solving and understanding new concepts to making plans and enjoying books, films, and art, our brains need to be flexible, open, and creative.
Encouraging imagination and creativity is important in early childhood as it prepares your child for success later in life. Studies show that early childhood imaginative play increases a child’s ability to be a flexible, creative thinker, which is so important in many aspects of life.
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Emotional and Social Development
A play kitchen gives children the chance to play and work together and explore different roles and points of view. Whether they envision the play kitchen as a family kitchen complete with parents and children or a restaurant with staff and patrons, they must communicate and work together to solve problems and have fun.
The entire process encourages children to see the other side of things and be respectful of others’ feelings and opinions. This is an important part of development that teaches children to care for and respect others.
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Improved Language and Communication Skills
Another advantage of giving your toddler a play kitchen is that their language and communication skills will likely improve. As they interact and play with you and other children, they learn new words and ways to convey their thoughts and needs. This is especially true when a younger child plays with an older, more advanced child with a larger vocabulary.
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Learning Life Skills
Without really trying, you can teach your kids crucial life skills in their play kitchen. Consider how they plan their pretend meals, go about preparing the dishes, setting the table, serving the meal, and then cleaning up afterward. These are all skills they will carry throughout their lives.
Furthermore, you can use their play kitchen as a way to teach your children about making healthy food choices. Pretending to prepare good foods is a great opportunity to discuss nutrition and why it’s important to make good choices.
Having a play kitchen in your home is great for toddlers and young children. Not only is it fun to watch them pretend to cook and serve meals, but it also encourages social and cognitive development and teaches them skills they’ll use for life.
