play food?

[TeaghansMama]

i'm in the market for play food for a kick butt (if i do say so myself) kitchen i'm making for the girls for Christmas..
i saw some fabulous felt play food on Etsy that i'm considering. i mgith even be able to make some....
we already have some Melissa and Doug wood food and some from Pier 1. Teaghan just got a bunch of plastic, made in china food for her birthday from my grandparents, and I'm trying to avoid/get rid of all that.

So what are the advantages/disadvantages of play food made from different materials.... wool, crocheted acrylic, wood, felt..
what do you have? do you/your kids love it... why?

thanks Mamas

[margob73]

There's a thread in the dolls and toys forum about making felt food!

[ejbamommy]

we have wooden play food. My kids all love the textures of the wood and I love how well it stands up to my kids being rough sometimes! It's lasted through 3 kids so far and no concerns about it making it through the 4th growing up as well!

[astrophe27]

Well, the plus to washable ones is that you can bung them in the wash periodically.

www.oompa.com has a lot of cute wooden play food -- DD has mostly wooden Melissa and Doug.

More than food (because it can always be fashioned from homemade playdough -- is sturdy, washable cookware/plateware for a kiddie kitchen to me.

A.

[TeaghansMama]

thanks for the replies

A~ I agree! i already have a really nice metal set of dishes and pots/pans for them.... They already play with that all the time.. and Teaghan is so great at imagining the different dishes she cooks up.... guess maybe it's me who is fascinated by all the play food ideas!!

[KathinJapan]

I really like the HABA wood food more than M&D, it has held up better.
cloth is nice, we also have some of the velcro foods to cut
but I think it is important to have some open ended foods, that is rocks, large buttons, beads, we have some large dried beans etc.. that can be anything.

you can get wooden eggs at a craft store, cut thin strips of felt for noodles etc.. It is fun to have different kinds of foods.

As mentioned dishes and cookware are also important. in our kitchen we have small oven mitts, an apron, shopping bags, baskets, trays etc.. actually we don`t have a real play kitchen per se, but tons of great props. Your children will be happy playing there for hours, and so will all the guests who come to play, this includes the adults
Kathryn

[hlkm2e]

My Mom crocheted my kids a bunch of fruits and veggies and a little market bag to go with them. They love it. We also have wood and felted food. They love it all.

[Hannahsmummy]

Kitchen/restaurant play is one of my 4 year old daughters' things!
We have both felt and wooden food. They are both beautiful to play with and look at.
As for wood, the brand we most like is Erzi, they are gorgeous and realistic looking.
http://www.treehollowtoys.com/roll-play.html

I got the felt stuff off of ebay.
My daughter doesn't seem to have a preference, she loves them both. The wooden ones have definitely held up better though.

Oh, just remembered that we have some really cute knitted cakes as well.

I'm so impressed that you are making the kitchen too!