“Let’s go to the kitchen and make some food, Mommy!” My little girl excitedly says. But as she scurries off to towards the kitchen, she stops in her tracks, “First, I need to put on my chef outfit and get my supplies for cooking.”Quinn will be three in May, and she loves playing dress-up and pretend. Then again, most children do. There’s something terrific and just plain fun about playing dress-up. So for Christmas, Santa brought her a chef outfit by Melissa and Doug. This outfit comes with a chef hat and jacket, a name tag, wooden spoon and spatula, measuring spoons and an oven mitten.

Sometimes, she loves playing in her kitchen in the playroom wearing her outfit, but often she enjoys helping me prepare actual meals and special treats. I just love watching her face light up as she puts on her chef hat. I’ve also observed how her vocabulary has expanded. “What ingredients are we going to need, Mommy? Let’s check the recipe. I need my measuring spoons so that it will taste just right! How many teaspoons do we need?” she inquires. Imaginative play tends to become real-life play. Just the other day, we prepared turkey burgers, and she raced to put on her chef outfit. Though it is not the typical toy, she certainly does have fun, and it is giving her skills she will be able to apply for many years to come. I am tempted to purchase her a couple more of the role play sets or might even try to create my own little outfits for her using some of the old clothing and items we have around the house.

All the best,

Tanya