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Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

Original poster

Toy kitchen for a 7 year old? or baking kit?

15 replies

Marne · 15/09/2013 12:28

Dd2 (who has Autism) wants a toy kitchen but most of them are too low down for her, I like the look of the ikea kitchen but not sure what the height is like.

She loves to cook in our kitchen but because she pinches food and tries to bake by herself we have to keep the kitchen locked (so she can only go in there when supervised) so a toy kitchen would be easier.

Last week we saw some great Mr Men baking kits (silicone moulds, utensils and aprons) so am now wondering if I should just get her some baking stuff for when we cook together.

She has asked for quite a few things for Christmas and I cant afford to buy them all so do I buy a kitchen from ikea? or buy her the baking kit so she can also have some of the other things she has asked for (lego and moshi monster play set)??

OP posts:
VoldemortsNipple · 15/09/2013 12:41

What about if you bought her some real baking equipment with the addition of play food which she could keep in a toy box so she could use them for playing with. I can't really comment on whether a toy kitchen would be worthwhile as I don't know your dd. But having the utensils to play with might be a compromise. I'm sure she would be just as happy playing with them on the floor or kitchen table as she would with a play kitchen. And you could always give them a good wash for use in real cooking too.

attheendoftheday · 16/09/2013 16:15

The ikea kitchen is height adjustable, I'll measure how high it goes for you in a minute when I finish feeding the baby.

Sorry, but I have no advice as to which presents would be better, I think both options sound good.

Original poster
Marne · 16/09/2013 17:52

Thank you attheend, i'm tempted by the kitchen (so I can have a trip to ikea) Grin.

OP posts:
UniS · 16/09/2013 20:59

www.apartmenttherapy.com/roundup-diy-play-kitchens-69808 Would she like/ use a toy kitchen like these ones? with some real utensils. My NT 7 year old still likes playing with play doh, rolling pins, picnic cutlery etc. and can be persuaded sometimes to "help" with real cooking but I don't need to keep the cooking pretend out of the real kitchen in the way that you maybe do.

If she were an NT 7 year old I'd say go for the several small things you know she will like , moshi, lego etc as I know that DS and his classmates compare and talk about their latest lego/ monster and when he has good mate friend over they dive into the lego tub and happily play next to each other but not necessarily together. Is she in a mainstream school? moshi/ lego presents won't stop her being who she is but may give her a handle for social age appropriate play with her classmates . A toy kitchen probably won't.

Iwaswatchingthat · 16/09/2013 21:15

How would she respond to being given a huge box to make into her own oven/kitchen? Is she creative? She could get more boxes and add to it.
(Tesco will keep them for you if you ask)

This would be something she could have now and use your pots and pans on. She would not have to wait until christmas for it.
It would develop her imagination too.

cheekycherryza · 17/09/2013 07:45

Ikea has a lovely baking set in their baking section it has a rolling pin, cookie cutters, baking sheet etc. Lovely gift

Original poster
Marne · 17/09/2013 08:16

She is in MS school and can be quite high functioning at time, so she likes all the toys her friends like but she also like some younger toys such as peppa pig Smile.

She saw a horrid hello kitty play kitchen in b&m a few weeks a go and wanted it (it was tiny and plastic so not really suitable for a heavy handed 7 year old). She spends hours playing with playdough and reading my cake decorating magazines and loves baking (and eating the end products), she sleeps with the good food magazine Grin.

She also spends a lot of time doing lego as she likes to follow instructions (she's very good at it), she's not as into moshi's as she was and only really plays with the figures (she had the moshi house last Christmas and the theme park for her birthday but she rarely plays with them and they fall apart), so would like to try and put her off the moshi's. She also likes my little pony, has mentioned moxie girls and Barbie, she seems to want everything she see's on tv or the argos catalogue Smile.

OP posts:
Iwaswatchingthat · 17/09/2013 09:28

You can get massive building blocks from teaching catalogues like TTP. You can use them to make walls etc. then they can become anything your dd wants them to be. Can you tell I am into imaginative play??!!!! Grin

UniS · 17/09/2013 19:12

7 year olds and catalogues! DS "NEEDS" every bit of lego he is seeing in a catalogue. He is also very good at putting the kits together and is now getting into creating his own vehicles with all kind of fold out bits and bobs of special features.
Don't tell his friends but he still plays with Duplo at home ( train set).

I think Christmas we will sort it out so that he gets some lego but not just lego.

pumpkinsweetie · 17/09/2013 19:24

Toy kitchens are pretty low in height, my 7yo is way too tall to get any use out of hers anymore, it's just right up until 5 i think.

What about a childrens icecream maker/smoothie/cereal bar/slush puppie makers? I remember when i was a child they even sold a special cupcake oven for children, i loved it Smile, shame they sell nothing like that nowConfused

WaitMonkey · 17/09/2013 19:29

She sounds lovely. I love the notion of her sleeping with good food magazine. Grin

SunshineAndPeardrops · 18/09/2013 13:22

This might be a daft idea, but you could always ask your local Remap group if they could build her something suitable:-

www.remap.org.uk/

Badvoc · 18/09/2013 13:27

My ds2 had the ikea kitchen..it's pretty low tbh.
If I were you I would buy some lovely baking kits - which you can also get at ikea - and bake with her in your kitchen.
You could also get some kits that require no cooking...like decorating biscuits and even the gingerbread house kits you can get near Xmas.
She sounds lovely :)

Original poster
Marne · 18/09/2013 14:11

Thank you everyone (she is lovely but then I would say that), I think she's going to take after me and have a passion for cooking Smile.

I think I will just get her some baking kits and utensils to use with me in the kitchen. Last week I caught her trying to make bread and butter pudding in the kitchen (I left the door unlocked), she managed to crack some eggs and mix them in a bowl with some bread, sugar and a small box or raisins, I was quite impressed but not as impressed by the amount of mess she made Smile.

OP posts:
Tommetipsy · 19/09/2013 15:05

Marne, a friend of mine got the ikea one and her DH made a kind of wooden box to go under it. A kind of plinth (I think that is what it is called!!) and it raised it up for their kids now they are older.

Possibly a local carpenter would do something for a reasonable price for you?

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