When my kids were younger, they received a big bag of plastic play food filled with such gems as skinny hot dogs, rubbery pizza slices, flat burger patties and even a few brown chicken nuggets. Well, this grass-fed beef buying, farmers-market visiting, chicken-coop contemplating mama has had enough. It’s time to go all Jamie Oliver on their plastic play food and clean out the toy bin.
I’ve found an alternative to their junky plasticky food that will make me feel way better about the pretend meals they are serving each other.
I would so much prefer to see my kids grabbing a big purple eggplant or pretending to crack eggs while playing with one of Pixiekids Toys and Gifts‘ imagination-spurring felt play food sets made with eco-felt from recycled plastic bottles.
From setting up a mini farmer’s market in my living room to serving each other a little sushi before lunchtime, these are the kinds of toys that would stay front and center in my house.
Handmade by mom and eductor Melisa Santacroce, my favorite is her “Bigger” set with eggs, milk and cheese, and, of course, grass-fed organic beef–the label is such a cute touch, though I wish it were affixed somehow and not in a plastic baggie (which shouldn’t be part of a toddler toy). Even so, the set includes a recycled (of course) grocery bag filled with eight easy-to-grab fruits and vegetables.
We can all hope that by playing with a yellow squash enough, maybe they’d be more willing to actually try a bite when it ends up on their plate, right? -Christina
Check out the felt play food, or any of Melisa’s play food sets, at Pixiekids Toys and Gifts.
LOVE! Wish they wholesaled… Long live handmade!
Our son received a kitchen for Christmas and we had the same reaction to the included play food. Instead of buying more of the same we purchased a breakfast, lunch, and dinner set of Learning Resource’s healthy food : https://www.learningresources.com/product/parents/shop+by+theme/nutrition/healthy+foods+play+set.do?sortby=&
Whole wheat bread, chicken breast, carrots, apple slices, celery sticks, english muffin, strawberries, milk….it’s the kind of food he actually eats, it’s life-size, and comes with food pyramid information for toddlers and kids.
I like the way you think! This is a great idea.
I love this! I have 5 kiddos and for years we’ve had play kitchens of every sort. Not only is the plastic food “pretend unhealthy,” it is made of junky plastic that gets deflated the first month of use. I love these cute veggies! Thanks for the link!
This is great – my son’s friend has a felt coffee mug just like mommas that he adores.
We also have the Melissa and Doug wood food which he loves to “cut” with the wood knife. The pieces are velcroed together so it sounds like real cutting when the knife goes through it.
My son also recieved a toy kitchen for Christmas this year and, despite telling everyone NOT to buy him plastic food, his aunt gave him 101 glorious pieces of it. “Out with the old, in with the new,” I always say! Felt food, here we come.
I am gonna play devils advocate here and say why not supplement their junk food toys with healthy food toys. Let’s face it, these kids live in the real world of McDonald’s and Papa John’s. They are going to want to serve up those nuggets and fries. And since you are a healhty food serving mama, they’ll also offer up a tomato, an eggplant and some beans. No problem.
Just say’in.
My kids have the junk food pizza, the burgers, the mac and cheese. BUT they also have eggplant, red peppers, lemons, apples, pineapples, strawberries, etc. I never really thought of the original play food as encouraging junk food…. but then again, they got the fresh food toys shortly after receiving the kitchen, if not at the same time. Anyway, I think its great that there are other options and it would be nice if the stuff that came WITH the play kitchen was a bit healthier and more realistic.
We found fabric food at IKEA. First they had a birthday cake, ice cream cones and cookies, and a sandwich platter and now we just found fruits and veg. I love that there’s a fabric option that’s less expensive like this.
for ages, I only bought LOs knitted and felt food toys and then one day…. all went wrong and they were given a huge set of yucky plastic food by in-laws !!!!!! It was very tempting to just hide it and never give it to them but in fear of upsetting them, I had to let them (happily, have to say) play with it.