Article Sample – Kitchen Play Sets – Learn and Grow Together!
Kidkraft Pink Retro Play Kitchen
There is a true shortage of toys for children on the market that will last for years, can be shared with any number of friends at once, and will still be entertaining five years later. A great bet for a long lasting toy for nearly any age under 12 is a good, solid KidKraft Kitchen.
As a child, one of my favorite toys was my kitchen play set. It was one of those old wooden things, and nothing on it was realistic, but it was a major fixture in my room from the time I was two, until…well, longer than I’d like to admit. As a child growing up in the countryside, before home computers were available, I relied on that kitchen set to become the stage in a million countless childhood dramas. I still can’t cook in a kitchen – even a real one, but I learned a lot about sharing with my friends, the importance of easy bake oven safety, and that picking up even your toy forks is important, because they’re no fun to step on.
The kitchen sets available today are simply stunning. CornerOne.Com has one of the best selections on the net, and the styles range from quaint, to bright, to nostalgic, like the Pink Retro Kitchen. Of course, the best part of these sets is that they can grow with your children. Even a very simple set, equipped with plastic play sets, and maybe a gigantic plastic apple can be updated as your child ages. Your toddler can play with special safety toys, and then graduate to smaller, metal cast replicas as she ages. An easy bake oven can be added when they’re ready, and it’s a wonderful parental rite of passage to cook powdery brownies on an oven heated with a light bulb, and eat off plates the size of a tea saucer.
The best part of these sets, though, is watching your children use them to interact with siblings, toys, or their friends. Because these sets are designed to be a prop in your child’s creative process, they can easily be used by more than one child, and in fact, are often even better when shared. Watching your child play with a kitchen play set will show you how he or she handles social interaction, sharing space and materials, and how well she entertains herself. You may even be able to teach valuable skills.
No one set is better than another, because given time, your child will make it their own. Choose a color combination that you like, or that fits in well with the current furniture of your child’s room. Should she become bored with it, or if you ever change the décor, a fun way to make this toy new again is to repaint it together, so that it matches her own tastes. There is no ‘wrong’ kitchen set, only endless opportunity. This is a gift you can give your child that will be a part of her life for years, and there are countless ways to enjoy it together.
