I have a great set of hand-me-down dishes from my childhood ‚Äì plates, cups, teapots, silverware — the works. However, there’s one big problem when my girls try to have a pretend picnic or tea party: no play food to speak of.

I’ve been looking for something funky and fun and a little bit different to serve up to my kids for their pretend mealtimes. Since my younger daughter likes to conduct personal taste tests of anything that looks like food, I wanted something that couldn’t actually be ingested thus requiring a painful ER visit and a toxicity screening. So when I came across the felt food items at Mahar Dry Goods, I knew we had a winner!

The food items are sewn of sturdy wool felt, combining realistic colors with an appealing softness in their design. Plus they’re fully washable, a feature that will definitely come in handy after my toddler has drooled all over the pumpkin pie slice in her enthusiasm.
There are several different play sets to please even the pickiest food connoisseur, including my favorite – the dinner set, which includes a plump little "fried chicken" drumstick, mashed potatoes with gravy, and green beans.

So keep your plastic ribeye, I’ll take the the felt chicken. Mangia mangia! –Nancy