play food

[noreenismail]

I have so many plastic play food items that I want to get rid and replace with wooden ones.

Due to the cost I only want a few of the main ones. What items do you have and what do mindees play with.

Thanks
Noreen

[loocyloo]

i put all my plastic food inthe garden and replaced with wooden food ... i have the cutting bread/sandwich kit plus fruit and veg and cake that stick together with velcro for cutting. plus tea set with teapot!

however, training i have been on lately is advocating not having any 'recognisable' food at all - just fircones/stones/bottle tops etc etc that the children can make believe with and is open ended - so that the apple is not always an apple ... a fircone might be an apple one minute, a sausage the next, and a cake tomorrow. OR a nursery who were at the training session have 'stocked' their play kitchen with real tins and packets, and real fruit & veg!

[clareelizabeth1]

I used to have food but got so fed up at the end of the day putting my bricks, balls and things out of the kitchen and in there place I just changed the whole kitchen in to a treasure basket. It's great you get much more interesting meals. It went from egg and an apple to salmon on toast I have even been offered haggis.

I keep thinking about getting some wooden food again but it works so well the saying if it ain't broke don't fix if always comes to mind.

[mama2three]

I have a mix of plastic and wooden , but my littlest ones do put it in their mouths sometimes and I can stick the plastic ones through the dishwasher to get rid of the germs . I also have some 'real' things in there - potatoes , onions , things with a longish 'shelflife' and empty packets taped back up too.

I also have lots of natural open ended resources , a mix of both works really well I find.

[noreenismail]

Thank you for the ideas. I love the idea of using natural materials and it means I don't have to spend money too.

[Little Puddings]

I used to have plastic toy food but only got few bits left and it is kept in the garden. I have wooden food in the house (I love wooden toys) but last month I bought the 5 sets of fabric foods from Ikea, they wash at 40c and can be tumbled dried. They have velcro bits and you can peel half the banana. Kids love it. I also bough some real pans and utensils that is intended for a mud kitchen when I get one sorted.

[VeggieSausage]

I think the fabric ikea food is really good, you get baskets of fruit, veg etc, and not too expensive compared to other wooden food. I use this now and I bought some plain wooden eggs from Baker Ross (or it may have been Crafty Crocs) and I put them in a real egg box, they really like these....

[smurfette]

I think the fabric ikea food is really good, you get baskets of fruit, veg etc, and not too expensive compared to other wooden food. I use this now and I bought some plain wooden eggs from Baker Ross (or it may have been Crafty Crocs) and I put them in a real egg box, they really like these....

Ooh like this must get some of these! Play food is most played with toy in mine!

[Louise_Oaktree]

I love the way on this forum you can get so many great simple ideas that I would never have thought of!

[Optimalstar]

i put all my plastic food inthe garden and replaced with wooden food ... i have the cutting bread/sandwich kit plus fruit and veg and cake that stick together with velcro for cutting. plus tea set with teapot!

however, training i have been on lately is advocating not having any 'recognisable' food at all - just fircones/stones/bottle tops etc etc that the children can make believe with and is open ended - so that the apple is not always an apple ... a fircone might be an apple one minute, a sausage the next, and a cake tomorrow. OR a nursery who were at the training session have 'stocked' their play kitchen with real tins and packets, and real fruit & veg!

We got the cardboard shop from ikea over the weekend. I say shop but I'm sure it can be used as many other things such as a puppet theatre and a host of other things. Anyway I digress as usual. My kids were playing cafes with it and my 3yr old raided my fridge for real apples to sell. We have a host of toy, still plastic I'm afraid as they're ancient, food and she obviously didn't want to play with pretend food.

[dette]

i save kitchen rolls and toilet roll tubes and wrap them with lables from tins and jars,(beans ,coffee,peas ,tinned fruit) this doesnt work well with supermarket budget brands as all your "tins" look the same lol
The best ones are the ones with pictures of the contents on the label.they stand up nicely and they are free !!!

[sarah707]

I won some of the wooden play food in a raffle and the older children love it - the little ones just throw it around which is a pity (and it's quite hard) but they will learn in time.

I do have some plastic that we take outside in a basket for picnics ... and we use lots of natural resources as well...

I think it's good to have a range of different things so children learn about them all