Cooking up some fun!

If your preschool years were similar to mine, you spent a lot of your play time spent in the toy kitchen area.  I recall hours of fun pretending with classmates and creating imaginary mud pies.  I always thought these kitchens were just for fun, but it turns out they serve educational purposes as well.  Kitchen areas are beneficial in preschool and early childhood classrooms because they encourage improvements in motor and social skills, while providing time for role-playing. 

Kitchen sets are most often being used by multiple children at the same time.  This helps to foster a sharing environment and improves a child’s social capabilities.  Interacting with other children is a much needed skill that improves cognitive development and will assist them in future school years and life.  Research has shown that children who are able to successfully interact with their peers during preschool are more likely to have stronger friendships and feelings of acceptance later in life.  It has also been determined that poor social skills in early childhood can lead to behavioral problems later on. Cognitive and motor development and wonderful social skills sounds like a win-win!

It is important to include plastic plates, utensils, and pretend food in your kitchen area.  This allows children to practice using items they encounter in daily life, improving their motor skills.  It also initiates make-believe play in which children will pretend to cook imaginary meals and reenact household chores such as setting the table and cleaning dishes.  This role-playing is a necessary component to sparking the imaginations of children while teaching the value of responsibility by completing chores.

Wood Designs offers many options for all sizes of classrooms.  We have various kitchen sets that have individual pieces such as a ranges, sinks, cupboards, and refrigerators.  These are available in different sizes and shapes for various age levels. 

All of our items have rounded edges and corners for safety and our Tip-Me-Not™ kitchen appliances are bottom weighted and the center of gravity is lowered to greatly decrease the possibility of tipping by children.  If your classroom is small, we have various all-in-one kitchen sets that incorporate numerous appliances into one compact piece of furniture.  Visit Wood Designs to pick out the kitchen set that suits your classroom needs and let the cooking begin!