I recently got my kid a little tykes kitchen, and it has completely changed her life. She used to be a pretty hyperactive child. She had a fair number of toys, but she would mostly spend her time throwing them around. This is why I was hesitant to get her a little tykes play kitchen. Throwing teddy bears and small plastic dolls is one thing, but once you have substantial pieces of plastic cookware, you can do some damage.
I had no need to worry, however, because she is completely captivated by the little tikes kitchen. I have never seen her so involved in anything in her life, in fact. She plays with the little tykes kitchen for hours on end ? I can’t even get her to stop when I want to. She had several friends over and they play kitchen little tykes together. It is amazing how organized they are in their playtime. One of them will make waffles and pancakes, for example, while another one will do the dishes and pour the drinks. A third one will sit at the table and pretend to be the child, waiting to be served her breakfast.
I use her obsession with the little tykes kitchen to teach her some important lessons. One of them is cleaning up. The little tykes kitchen allows her to make clean up into a game. She gets to put away all of the pots and pans after washing them off in the toy sink. She gets to pretend to be her mom in the little tykes kitchen, talking to her dolls as if they are children. Since she got the little tyke kitchen, she is much more willing to clean up. Part of it has to do with us. We have understood that she enjoys cleaning up as long as it is made into a game. We let her play cleanup, so that she will do her chores. It has worked very well.
Now that she has enjoyed the little tykes kitchen so much, I have begun to think about building her a playhouse. I was thinking that she could even help decorated and build it. The little tykes kitchen is great, but it is all pre-manufactured. By building a playhouse together, we can bond. She will also get to do her first major project. All in all, it offers some extremely exciting possibilities. If she continues to put away her toys, she will have her own playhouse to put her little tykes kitchen in.
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