This post is all about wooden pretend play toys.
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Wooden Pretend Play Toys
Your Child Will Play With For Years
An empty cardboard box, a rock, a funny-looking hat. All that can be so much more in the eyes of a little child than it usually is to us, adults.
To further spark your child’s imagination and encourage role play offer your little one pretend play toys. Wooden ones are a great choice as they’re durable, safe, fun, and have a classic look, that both you and your child will cherish for yours to come. Keep on reading to find the perfect imaginative play toy for your kiddo.
Children’s imagination seems to have no limits, they love to pretend play. That’s great as there are many benefits to imaginative play, which we’ll get to in a second.
As parents, grandparents, or caregivers we want to foster our little ones’ curiosity, imagination, and creativity. We can simply offer a variety of objects that we have laying around the house and create a prop box our kids can use to role-play.
If you’re looking for toys specifically designed for pretend play, look no further, we got you covered.
In this post, you will find a variety of beautiful, durable, fun wooden toys for all sorts of imaginative play. These will help your little one become a chef, a a doctor, a barber, a barista, and much more, in no time.
We both know, that as soon as you show them the toys, they will know exactly what they want to do with them and they will be able to let their imagination run free. Plus they’ll be occupied for hours, giving you the chance to finish drinking your coffee, for once…
What is pretend play?
Pretend play is acting out scenarios as if they were real. It’s pretending that something or someone is real. It’s also called imaginative play, role play, make-believe, or fantasy play.
Some of the most popular examples of pretend play scenarios are playing house, superheroes, doctor, princesses, going grocery shopping, having a tea party, and so much more.
Benefits of pretend play
Pretend play nurtures creativity, curiosity, and imagination. It helps develop language skills, social skills, problem-solving skills, fine motor skills, and so much more, depending on the scenario your child chooses to act out.
It also offers a great opportunity for parents to have certain conversations and explain certain things to their children in a safe, fun environment. For instance, playing doctor to get them ready for a vaccine, or playing school to prepare them for their first day at pre-K.
At what age does imaginative play start?
Children start to pretend play sometime after they turn one, typically between 12-18months.
However, it’s toddlers who are two years and older who really start to act out certain scenarios, mimic parts of their daily routine, and get more and more creative with their imaginative play.
The peak years for pretend play are years 4-5.
At what age does pretend play stop?
Children who are 9-12 years old start to get more interested in school, out-of-school activities, sports, and hanging out with their friends, and that’s commonly the time when they stop playing make-believe.
Advantages of wooden toys for pretend play
Wooden toys are safe, durable, sustainable, versatile, and long-lasting. They have a classic look that fits into every household.
They encourage creativity and imagination, as they don’t have all the flashy parts and don’t make any crazy sounds like many modern, plastic ones do.
Wooden toys make for great gifts that will be cherished for years and that can be passed down from one generation to the next.
Wooden Pretend Play Toys
Your Child Will Play With For Hours
& Love For Years
Kitchen
Let’s start with the classic, a wooden pretend kitchen.
Oh this wooden play kitchen is a neutral (and quite affordable) beauty. Besides the essentials like the stove, a sink with a tap, and so on it comes with various utensils, an oven glove, pans, and even a salt and pepper set. This kitchen is guaranteed to occupy your child for many hours.
What sets this kitchen apart from many others is that for one, the knobs make clicking noises when turned, and two, it comes with height adjusters so it can grow with your child.
If you’re looking for a deluxe pretend kitchen, look no further. The Le Toy Van Oxford kitchen made from sustainable wood is a real eye-catcher. It would make a fantastic present, that’s durable and that would be cherished for years and years to come. It’s one of those pieces that could stay in your family for generations.
Barista Set
I don’t know about your kiddo, but mine wants to try anything that I’m eating or drinking. And for the most part, that’s absolutely fine with me, when it comes to coffee, however, I have to say ‘no’.
Thanks to this little barista set your little one can have fun preparing their own cup of coffee.
Wooden Sliceabel Veggies
I have yet to meet a child that doesn’t love to play with wooden sliceable veggies/fruit.
I’ve babysat “stranger’s” kids, my brother has little ones, and now I have my own, and they all love those type of playsets.
This beautiful playset comes with a box, seven vegetables, and a knife.
It can be used as part of playing house, restaurant, market, grocery store, farm, and I’m sure much, much more. Kids love that they get to use a knife and can mimic adults preparing dinner. It’s fantastic for toddlers as it helps to develop fine motor skills. You can use it to teach them the names of vegetables, and of course, it fosters pretend play.
Food
Yes, I know veggies are food too, even tho many toddlers refuse to acknowledge that fact. But if you have a serious little chef, restaurant, or market owner you might want to add more to their prop box than sliceable veggies.
How about some pantry essentials?
Or an AB&J set?
I love the fact that the box and jars actually open.
These are a great addition to a play kitchen or a market and would make a fantastic gift.
And how about a salad set or a baker’s basket filled with goodies such as a pretzel, and a croissant?
Market
I can imagine that playing market or grocery store is almost as popular among kids if not more, than playing “house”. Again, it’s mimicking adults, it’s being in charge of what needs to be purchased, and let’s not minimize the role of the cashier. Who didn’t want to operate a fake cash register at some point in their childhood?!
As with anything, your kiddo can be creative and build their own market stand. However, if you’re looking for a durable, sustainable one that will bring joy for years, you need to check out the market stand by Kids Concept.
This Le Toy Van set can be used for so many pretend play scenarios. From grocery store, restaurant, picnic, chef, to playing house of course. Especially if your kiddo doesn’t have many other wooden pentry/food items yet, they would get a little bit of everything at once, plus a basket and a barcode scanner. How fun is that?!
An absolute (affordable) must-have is this beautiful mint-coloured weighing scales.
This wooden cash register can be used for any pretend business your child wants to start. Certainly for a market or grocery store.
How cute is this card machine?! Who knew that combinding the classic, a wooden toy, with modern technology can look so good and offer so much fun! Using a cash register or a card machine can help your child learn numbers, counting, and money skills.
Hair Dresser Set
Whether it’s getting ready next to mama, giving daddy the well-needed haircut, or opening their very own hair salon, this hairdresser set will take your little one’s imaginative play to the next level.
Workbench / Toolbox
Does anything in your house need to be built or repaired? Let your little helper get to (creative) work with one of the sets below.
Sturdy and sustainable, with 12 accessories, a radio, a clock, and a chalkboard as the backboard, this workbench has everything your little DIY queen’s/king’s heart might desire.
If a whole workbench is not needed or would simply take up too much space, this toolbox will do, for sure. And it comes with a wooden measuring tape, how cool is that?!
Tea Set
Another beloved pretend play scenario, a tea party, which is great for the development of social skills. Whether attended by dolls, stuffed animals, or imaginary friends, it’s pretty much a part of every little girl’s (and boy’s I guess) childhood at some point. And let’s be honest, giving your child a real ceramic tea set from your kitchen is not the best idea. A plastic toy one isn’t classy or durable enough. That’s why a wooden tea set is a great choice. Check out these two adorable options:
First up, this stylish, high-quality tea set by Little Dutch, in their classic pastel colors.
Who knows, if you’re nice, maybe you’ll be invited to an imaginary tea party as well. Have a little chat and watch your kiddo work on their fine motor skills as well as social skills.
This tea set comes with a tray, a teapot, a sugar bowl, two saucers, two teacups, a milk jug, two spoons, and even a cute mint leaf and a lemon slice.
Need something sweet to go with the tea? Then this fancy tea set is the perfect choice for any little princess.
Picnic Set
Who doesn’t love going on a picnic?
Psst… have you taken your kids on a real picnic lately? Make sure to check out our post all about how to have the ultimate picnic experience.
If you take your child on a family picnic, I’m sure they’ll remember it and would love to recreate it during playtime.
Besides this picnic set presented above being awesome and having everything one needs for a perfect imaginary picnic, its parts can be used for so many other pretend play scenarios. The basket for grocery shopping, the croissants for a tea party, the sandwiches for school/work lunches, and so on.
Doctor’s Bag
Kids love to play doctor and can benefit greatly from doing so.
First of all, it can simply be a lot of fun, especially if they want to be Doc McStuffins.
But besides that, they can overcome their fears of going to the hospital or any doctor’s appointment. It’s a good idea to explain to them what will happen and how in a playful, stress-free environment.
They practice their fine motor skills, their social skills, they can express their emotions, process a previous doctor’s appointment, learn new words and expressions, and much more.
This doctor’s bag with all its accessories will enable them to learn all that and have hours of fun, for years to come.
Children learn through playing and thanks to the wooden pretend play toys they will be able to do so in a safe way, for hours, for years.
Let the imagination run free and the pretend play being!
