Play foods are toys that kids can use to simulate food preparation as a part of role-playing.
Basically, pretend foods are playing items made from materials such as wood, plastic or paper to resemble actual foods. These are shaped in forms of groceries, snacks, fruits and vegetables. All classes of foods are adequately represented.
Play foods are often used in conjunction with toy cooking sets like kids’ kitchens, BBQ set, etc. They can also be used independently without a cooking toy.
Pretend play foods offer kids at all stages of growth truckloads of benefits.
They are used to explain to the little ones basic knowledge of food, and the healthy ways to eat. Older kids can use play kitchens as a learning tool for lots of skills and elementary concepts.
For example, because play foods come in vivid colors, they are used to teach kids color identification and basic math concepts such as counting, addition, and subtraction.
Types
Play foods are categorized according to the materials they are made of, the classes of food they represent and how realistic they look.
Safety
It is appropriate to talk about safety at this point since most kids, especially the younger ones, will put play foods in their mouths.
When shopping for play foods you should look out for safe materials. Avoid toys that contain traces of unsafe or unknown materials.
It is a widely established fact that BPA, commonly used in plastic children’s toys, is harmful to humans. You may want to consider buying toys from established manufacturers.
Your concern should not be about toxic materials only. Even tools that are made of kid-friendly materials can pose serious risks to your kids.
Since play foods resemble actual foods they may contain small pieces and parts that can pose a choking hazard to little ones.
The kind of material a play food is made of can also be a safety risk to your kids. Broken plastics have sharp edges that can cut skins. Wooden toys sometimes have splinter that can also cut your kids. Paint will sometimes chip off from wooden toys and can be harmful when swallowed.
You may want to keep all these in mind when shopping for play foods.