Is it worth getting a 5 year old a play kitchen?

[AliasGrape]

Dd turning 5 soon. She always loved playing with the play kitchens when we went to toddler groups and things, and loves the 'home corner' in Reception. We never got her a play kitchen at home because our house is small and we just didn't really have room. I found like a wooden play oven in a charity shop for her once, and we tried that both outdoors and in and she honestly couldn't have been less interested so we didn't bother.

Now talking about what she wants for her birthday and a kitchen has come up. We're hopefully moving soon to a bigger place so should have the space - there's a conservatory we've earmarked for a playroom (and if it's a few months down the road I don't mind cramming it into our current place for that long - especially as so much of the toddler stuff has gone now we can get it in ok).

I think she probably would still play with it, role play is her thing, though I don't know if she'd get that long out of it? We do actually have a 'mud kitchen' type one in the garden, which we're not bringing as it was a cheap thing that's pretty much falling apart, but maybe we could upgrade that for the new place instead? Again I wouldn't say she's had loads of use out of that. She very much has form (probably like all kids) for loving and desperately wanting something she'll play with at someone else's house or elsewhere, and entirely losing interest once it's in our home.

How long did your kids play with their kitchens is I suppose what I'm asking!

My kids did until 7 but they played with it probably every single day since we got it (so aged 2) so possibly they were more into it than your daughter. Also there were two of them so easy to set up games like restaurants.

Did the charity shop one have as much you could do with it as, say, the classic ikea one does? Then I would say you've already tried it.

Perhaps you can find a nice secondhand one as a compromise?

Complete waste of money for me, only played with it the first day lol.

Loads of use for ours between the ages of 1-7yrs. Entirely depends on the child and how enthusiastic they are with imaginative/role play 🙂

Just let them help in the real kitchen. A toy one seems pointless. My DiL bought her child a toy vacuum cleaner. I couldn't believe it. Just get them to play with the real one and tidy up. She never cleans enough anyway.

Yes a second hand one could be an option.

The charity shop one was literally just the oven, which I don't think quite hit the mark for her back then - we've long since got rid of it but she'd probably quite like it now!

She plays restaurants and cafe and shop etc all the time (with us mostly) now, but she'll just sit us at the kitchen table and uses the top of her toy chest as a cooker. Plus it's more the writing stuff down in her notepad and telling us that they don't have anything we order, and shouting random rules at us that she's interested in.

I'll see, there's a couple of weeks to go so if she really keeps mentioning it I'll look into the second hand option like you say.

Ds had an Ikea play kitchen and used it most days for about 2 years, then we sold in within minutes on a 2nd FB group when he no longer did. Cost per use, well worth it! I didn't want him playing in my kitchen with expensive and/or breakable stuff

My kids are just coming out of the restaurant/notepad stage and they used the food and the plates a lot more than they used the actual kitchen for that, in case that's a potential approach.

Have you considered a mud kitchen? We got a cheap one from Argos and youngest (nearly 7) is still into it as he can make mud pies and 'potions'. Plus it lives outside so doesn't take up space in the house

We had an ikea one with a little cupboard next to it full of bits to play with. It got a ton of use, and actually all the food and bits still do get use esp when younger friends come over. I think by about 7 mine had stopped playing with it regularly, although would dip in now and again esp when friends were over.

Hits in ours were:

• acorns + egg cups + tiny bowls eggs (all wooden) dyed different rainbow colours. I did this with a cheap set of the kids watercolour paints one eve
• Glass pebbles
• gemstone eggs off Amazon. About 2cm tall, in all different colours
• interactive food, like sandwiches you can build, pizza you can “make”, Melissa and Doug do a cookie set where you can assemble the cookies. Ie not just a plastic packet of biscuits that you can’t open or do anything with.
• lots of little wooden plates
• little pots with lids
• a big wicker bowl thing that everything would get stirred up into