One of my goals over spring break was to help encourage
CRB to engage in more pretend play. Since the doctor kit was successful, I decided to buy him a play kitchen.
The
first kitchen I bought did not work out well at all. I was excited that it was made in the USA, in nearby Olive Branch, Mississippi. That fact may have been it's best feature, as the $38 I paid for it was too much. The kitchen was created out of a few hundred snap-off injection molded pieces. No matter how hard we tried, most every detachment point featured a very sharp burr. We did assemble the kitchen in a record 1.5 hours, thanks to
ToolMan's mechanical ability. Our assembly may be the best example of that play kitchen as we took some time to
debur the more dangerous edges. But even with our careful assembly we decided that it would not be able to take even 10 minutes of
CRB before we would be left with snap-off kitchen pieces scattered throughout our house. To my delight, Kmart graciously took our fully-assembled kitchen back.
After that bad purchase I really questioned my judgment. Is
CRB too young? Is it bad that I am buying a boy a play kitchen just because I cannot bear making more car sounds with the hot wheels? Should I go with an
heirloom quality, all wood kitchen that is devoid of all electronics? After all I am trying to encourage pretend play, and shouldn't I just be getting him to rely on his imagination? Does
CRB (really
CRB's mom) need a status kitchen like the
PBK one?
At the toy superstore, CRB got to check out the
grand walk-in kitchen. He loved checking out the doors, drawers and stools. Alothough the kitchen did not have any batteries installed CRB mashed buttons intently. When we started shopping for a kitchen my plan was to put it on the deck (hence the appeal of the $38 lizard lounge). We were more put off by the space needs of the grand walk in kitchen (as I did not want to just stuff it in a corner) than the price, although it seemed to be a big leap to spend 6.5 times as much.
After enough deliberation, deliberation that could have been used to solve world problems, we decided on the
Step 2 Party Kitchen. There are many, many variants, but this was the one that our toy superstore had in stock, and luckily it was the one I wanted to get him. It took a little over 30 minutes to put it together, and it required 11 batteries.
CRB has completely surprised me with how much and for how long he will play with the kitchen. The first time he got to play with it I had to stop him after 55 minutes. This is the same child who cannot sit long enough to watch TV without being contained in the
jumperoo and who cannot focus on a three piece puzzle for long enough to get more than one piece in place. Tomorrow we will have had it for one week and I am ready to say it has been a fabulous purchase that has really helped to change his style of play for the better. In addition to the fun with the doors and drawer, he loves the interactive experience that the battery items add.
Here are a few action shots:
The play kitchen blends nicely with my real kitchen, and since he gets so much enjoyment out of it, we'll be leaving it inside.
