Kids Kitchen Playsets for Toddlers

Toddlers have special requirements for their play kitchen sets. For one thing, they're less coordinated than older kids, so things don't always work for them the way they do for the pre-schoolers in your family or daycare. And they tend to get frustrated when things don't work!

• Look for toddler play kitchens that are sturdy, so they don't fall over or break easily. Toddlers can be rough! For this reason I prefer a wooden kitchen play set.
• Look for smooth, rounded corners on wooden kitchen playsets. Safety first!
• Make sure the kitchen playset manufacturer uses child-safe, lead-free paint. Todlers will chew anything!
• Don't buy a toddler kitchen playset that has too many small or cumbersome features, like hooks to hang toy cups on, because toddlers can't manage these.
• For the same reason, buy a toddler kitchen set with large knobs and oversized handles that chubby little hands can easily grasp.
• Buy the standard type separate units, not the "all-in-one" style. The kids kitchen playsets that are "all-in-one" or that have a hutch are usually too tall for toddlers. Too many of the play features are contained in the top part or hutch. This is frustrating for the little kids.
• Look for bright colours to attract their interest. While the older little girls might like a pink pastel kitchen set, the toddlers will want something brightly coloured and cheerful. Red, blue, green and yellow are great colours for toddlers' kitchens (and the older kids will love these, too!). Pastels are not the best colours for toddlers' play kitchens.
• Don't buy any of the "specialized" kitchen playsets for your toddler. They don't care about retro, vintage, country, cottage, homestyle, or any other fancy kitchen play set. They want a kitchen set that looks familiar... and not many of us have retro or vintage kitchens in our homes! Save the fancy stuff for the older kids (but older kids will love the wooden kids kitchen playsets we show on the right side of this page, as much, if not more than the toddlers!).

Things to add to your toddler's kitchen set:

• Toddlers love to put things in and out of cupboards and containers. This is a game in itself to your toddler. So make sure you add to your kitchen playset lots of toy pots and pans, toy dishes and of course play food!
• Mixing is a faourite toddler game, too, so add some big wooden spoons and plastic mixing bowls, but forget the fancy toy kitchen appliances for toddlers. They will find a toy blender or mixer too hard to manage. Buy those kinds of toy kitchen accessories for older kids.
• Toddlers should be able to manage a rolling pin, if it's not too small, so provide a table where they can play pastry chef with homemade playdough, which is much softer and easier for little hands to manage than plasticine, and way cheaper than PlayDo®. It's also 100% non-toxic!
• A child-sized apron will delight a toddler. Maybe add an adjustable child's chef's hat, if you and your kids watch cooking shows on TV.
• Consider adding an ironing board and a toy iron, maybe a toy washer and dryer, and a tiny laundry basket... anything that your toddler sees mommy or daddy doing, they will want to do, too.

Just keep it simple for toddlers (nothing too fiddly or dainty) and consider their safety, and you can't go too far wrong with buying them a kitchen playset.

Visit my favourite kids kitchen playsets merchant for a large variety of toy food, dishes, utensils... and toddler kitchen playsets of course!