Best Toy Foods
This set contains eight pieces of wooden food, a cutting board and a wooden knife. Wooden play food set with pieces that stick together and come apart with a satisfying "crunch" sound as kids slice them apart.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I'm a full grown adult, and whenever I clean it up after she's gone to sleep, I myself enjoy a making a couple "cuts"- it really is so satisfying to hear the velcro! I've read before that velcro, once wet, loses its adhesive properties. She can do the easy ones like the apple and the carrot, but the ones with multiple pieces or diagonal cuts where each piece has to be aligned in a specific way are much too difficult."
"She said it also encourages pre-writing skills (by teaching them to use one hand to hold the food while cutting with the other, the way they'll eventually hold a piece of paper with one hand as they write with the other)."
"Would have given it 5 stars, but I am unsure that the connecting mechanisms will last a long time."
"The velcro is so tight, with little room between the pieces, the toddlers have a really hard time using the "knife" to "cut" and separate (which is the whole point), so they tend to use their hands to twist and pull them apart."
"My kids like these and in a way I do too."
"Because not only this wood food is true to size and easier for toddler to hold, the sound it makes when the cutting knife hit the cutting board is also realistic to the real action."
"However, it is a play cutting board, and at that size pretty perfect for toddlers."
"The little knife is really thick, so it's challenging to fit through the fruit and even more annoying is that the knife and wood box it came in are splintery."
Young children naturally love to pretend they're doing "grown-up" things -- it's a fun and important part of childhood development. The Melissa & Doug Wooden Slice and Bake Cookie Set lets children ages three and up pretend to bake, decorate, and serve cookies, all while practicing fine motor skills, learning number concepts, and more. The Challenging : It's a toy with a lot of individual pieces, but it includes handy, clever storage solutions. In a Nutshell : Wooden cookie set comes with toy kitchen utensils, providing fun tools to foster imaginary play in preschool-age children. They are painted with different, yummy looking sprinkles, candy pieces, and icing patterns, so your child can create a variety of different looking cookies. Perfect for preschool-age children, this toy not only offers plenty of opportunity for imaginary play, it also helps small kids exercise their motor skills. In particular, the paints and coatings on Melissa & Doug toys are tested frequently to be sure they meet or exceed government recommendations limiting heavy metals and lead in children's items. Since day one, Melissa & Doug has been in compliance with every US consumer product safety regulation and will continue to stay compliant as the laws continue to evolve, assuring parents that their children can have a safe childhood while playing with Melissa & Doug toys. Colorful wooden play food set includes 12 sliceable cookies, 12 toppings, knife, spatula, cookie sheet, and kitchen mitt.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Also, the baking sheet has paint bubbles all around the edges, that was the first thing I noticed when I opened it."
"We also have the cuttable vegetable set, this makes a great addition to our toy kitchen."
"Such a cute set."
"The spatula also has velcro to allow the child to be successful in getting it off the pan without it falling off."
"The paint comes off the cookies quite easily if they get wet even just a little, and the 'cookie dough' tube isn't nearly as structurally sturdy as it should be."
"I feel like it really helps develop fine motor skills as it allows you to pretend slice the cookies, and decorate with the icings provided. I would recommend helping your kids if they are young like mine and play rough with their toys as the tin end has already popped off."
"You can never go wrong with anything from Doug and Melissa, The pieces are brightly painted,with wonderful shapes and designs and look better than real cookies."
"I purchased this set last week as a Christmas gift for my 2-year-old daughter."
Planning a well-balanced meal is child's play with this wooden set. Sturdy wooden food set featuring items from the five food groups for healthy pretend play.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"We love Melissa and Doug!"
"My three year old loves playing with them and pretend shopping, plus it's organized as the food groups, so it has an educational element to it."
"I love the quality of the workmanship and I really love that they steer clear of using plastics."
"My daughter loves playing with them, especially since they don't fall through the spaces in her Melissa and Doug shopping cart."
"I'm a hgreat he fan of MD products and this set is great."
"This is a fantastic product, we purchased this for our granddaughter and she absolutely loved it!"
"I purchased these to go with a toy kitchen for Christmas."
"We are returning only because the box was broken the items in the wooden box are fine that is it mean I don't know if they're going to have paint chips all over."
Best Preschool Kitchen Sets & Play Food
KidKraft Uptown Espresso Kitchen. Refrigerator, freezer, microwave, oven and dishwasher doors all open and close.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"We made ours more realistic by adding battery operated led touch lights to the microwave, oven, refrigerator, freezer and above the range (see photos)."
"We teamed up with family to purchase several big "play" items for our daughter's birthday/Christmas in 2015, and this is without a doubt my favorite of everything she got! We ended up buying the Learning Resources basket meals to go with it because it had a nice variety and was fantastic quality."
"The kitchen was packaged and shipped very carefully. I will admit putting this kitchen together was a little overwhelming at first and it took several hours. No matter how frustrating it is believe me, it is worth it!.I really love how this kitchen doesn't have any stickers. The graphics on this kitchen are painted on which is awesome in my book! The counter height of the kitchen is 22 inches. The counter length is 32 inches. The inner width of the freezer and fridge is 10 inches. The overall height of the kitchen is approximately 40.5 inches. The play food and play pots and pans in the photos are by Learning Resources."
"Once it's put together it's very nice."
"It might be a bit more expensive than some of the others, but it's SOLID and wood, not plastic and cardboard like so many other products these days."
"Other than that, it's very cute and extremely functional, doors all close and latch well, and even though it's compressed board wood, it's very sturdy."
"I gave it four stars because some of the screws come with both silver and brown, and we did not have enough of the brown screws in order to use for all of the espresso pieces."
Best Toy Cookware
From classic wooden toys to crafts, pretend play, and games, Melissa & Doug products provide a launch pad to ignite imagination and a sense of wonder in all children so they can discover themselves, their passions, and their purpose. Enter your model number to make sure this fits.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"However, I purchased these to go with our kidcraft deluxe kitchen and was really disappointed that the handles' hanging holes aren't big enough to be hung."
"Wow these are as nice as mine."
"Super cute.. made very well.. not flimsy or cheap.. looks great and they love using them with the pots and pans."
"I purchased the cookware set made by Melissa and Doug as well....again excellent quality."
"He's only 9 months, so I don't think he has any idea what he's doing, but he sure does love banging around with them, and rolling the little holder all over the floor."
"Excellent quality- the utensils have a nice weight to them and look like scaled down versions of the real thing."
"These little utensils are extremely durable and look almost better then the actual ones I have for cooking in our kitchen."
"My sob loves playing with the pots and pans and these were perfect!!!"
Best Toy Kitchen Sets
KidKraft Uptown Espresso Kitchen. Refrigerator, freezer, microwave, oven and dishwasher doors all open and close.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"We made ours more realistic by adding battery operated led touch lights to the microwave, oven, refrigerator, freezer and above the range (see photos)."
"We teamed up with family to purchase several big "play" items for our daughter's birthday/Christmas in 2015, and this is without a doubt my favorite of everything she got! We ended up buying the Learning Resources basket meals to go with it because it had a nice variety and was fantastic quality."
"The kitchen was packaged and shipped very carefully. I will admit putting this kitchen together was a little overwhelming at first and it took several hours. No matter how frustrating it is believe me, it is worth it!.I really love how this kitchen doesn't have any stickers. The graphics on this kitchen are painted on which is awesome in my book! The counter height of the kitchen is 22 inches. The counter length is 32 inches. The inner width of the freezer and fridge is 10 inches. The overall height of the kitchen is approximately 40.5 inches. The play food and play pots and pans in the photos are by Learning Resources."
"Once it's put together it's very nice."
"It might be a bit more expensive than some of the others, but it's SOLID and wood, not plastic and cardboard like so many other products these days."
"Other than that, it's very cute and extremely functional, doors all close and latch well, and even though it's compressed board wood, it's very sturdy."
"I gave it four stars because some of the screws come with both silver and brown, and we did not have enough of the brown screws in order to use for all of the espresso pieces."
Best Toy Dishes & Tea Sets
Designed for children ages three and up, the tea set is made from recycled milk jugs, is FDA approved to eat and drink from, and does not contain BPA, phthalates, or lead paint. In a Nutshell : Colorful, tea set made from 100% recycled curbside-collected milk containers. Manufactured, assembled, and tested in the United States, the set is environmentally safe, non-toxic, and dishwasher friendly. Use the tea set to help your child learn more about recycling, helping the environment, saving energy, and reducing greenhouse gases while they serve tea to family and friends. Includes a tea pot with lid, sugar bowl with lid, creamer, four cups, four saucers and four teaspoons.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I LOVE Green Toys and this tea set is no exception."
"She immediately had a tea party in the backyard with her toys."
"My niece turns 2yo next week so I just ordered another set *lol* I can't praise this set enough :-) We love all of the Green Toys that we've purchased over time. Since I was already on Amazon to purchase the tea set for my niece, I also popped the cupcake set into my cart."
"I bought this set for my 5 year old granddaughter, knowing that her 3 year old brother would also enjoy imaginary play.They both were thrilled with this set that has enough pieces to include their parents or friends to play with them."
"I see the teapot has been redesigned some to prevent leaking. Ours did not leak."
"I'm still disappointed to see them on the lid, though, as I can't see holes on any other cannister lid in product pictures or in product description."
"We love this non toxic colorful tea set!"
"I got this tea set because my daughter wanted to be able to have real tea parties, and most tea sets aren't made to hold real tea."
Best Kids' Cooking Kits
MasterChef Junior’s REAL cooking tools are kid-safe with non-slip silicone grips making them easy to use for all of your favorite breakfast meals! Recipes appropriate for all different experience levels are included in all 5 cooking sets. Work together in the kitchen to pass along favorite family recipes or try one of the 3 included recipes that come in every set. The MasterChef Junior Cooking Sets empower children of all cooking levels to improve their cooking skills and have fun in the kitchen with kid-safe cooking products! Officially licensed MasterChef Junior Cooking Essentials Set.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Purchased for my 7 1/2 year old grandson for Christmas and he just loves it."
"My five year old granddaughter loves to help in the kitchen, and these tools were perfect for her!"
"My 7 year old loves this gift!!"
"just what my daughter wanted for Christmas."
"Good quality, especially for new-to-the-kitchen children."
"This was a huge hit for my daughters birthday."
"My 7 y/o granddaughter was delighted with this set!"
"Not a bad set for getting kids interested in cooking."
Best Kids' Cooking Appliances
Color: Brown/White. Speckled granite style counter top;Sink with faucet and taps that turn.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I got this kitchen for my 16 month old daughter after comparing lots and lots of other play kitchens. I'm really glad I took my time because I eventually discovered this kitchen, which came out quite recently I believe (I don't even see it on kidkraft's website), and it meets all the criteria I was looking for in a kitchen. Things I wanted in a play kitchen that this kitchen has: - made out of wood, not plastic. - has a refrigerator with 2 doors instead of just 1 (seems more realistic to me). - has counter space for play prepping food/so it doesn't feel so squished. - has a washing machine (I know reviews about other kitchens sometimes think it's weird to have a washer in the kitchen, but I like that it's adds variety and I don't have to buy a separate washer machine play set). - neutral color scheme. DESIGN: - My daughter still gets a kick out of peekaboo, so the two "windows" are a pretty nice addition. - Also, in general this kitchen, this kitchen has a good amount of storage space, with 2 additional compartments under the sink."
"The sounds from the burners and ice maker are very realist and the extra counter space and washing machine just put this over the top. It's the tallest kitchen I could find and enough space for a few kids to play with at the same time. Her previous kitchens microwaves and oven could hold a plate much less and cookie sheet."
"My 2 year old loves it!"
"This kitchen is hands down the BEST purchase that I have made for my 2 year-old daughter. I worked in a daycare for 6 years, taught integrated preschool for 4 years and have my own children and I've seen my fair share of kitchens, plastic and wooden. I heavily researched play kitchens for about a year and set my sights on this one early on. Realistic - this kitchen looks and feels completely real. Well designed - this kitchen is well designed to meet the needs of young children and is a great size. (I do have some con's with the design but they are mostly tedious! If your child isn't into that kind of play, it makes for great extra storage! It took us 3.5 hours to identify and make sure that all of the pieces were there and to put it together. Lastly, some of the handles are misleading - for example, the oven handle is horizontal but opens from the right side which makes it hard sometimes to open (for a 2 year old) and is slightly annoying. I recommend purchasing an LED push light or 2 to add to this to make it more bright. I put one up above the sink and it's super bright and adds to the realistic feel of the kitchen."