Wood or plastic play Kitchen?

We love our "little tykes" kitchen....It will be 14 yrs old this christmas...it has never tipped over or hurt any of our 3 kids, or any of the daycare kids....

I did have a daycare mom who gave me a wooden doll highchair and i got rid of that really quick...the wook was really heavy and the piece itself was very topheavy and tipped over at the little ones everytime they tried to put a dolly in it

The little tykes kitchen gets pressure washed a couple of times of year...stays outside in the summer and comes inside for the winter...the only major show of wear is the little stickers that are the pretend cooktop...but you can order new ones.

Plastic Play Kitchen

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Plastic would be easier to clean, germ wise, b/c wood is more pourous. i would think the wood ones are heavier, but I'm not sure about the tipping of the plastic ones. In some plastic toys like those, they have little holes in the bottom to add sand or water to to weight them down (I'm guessing about the kitchens though, my son has a plastic, freestanding, basketball goal that has this feature) Maybe look at the display models int he store & see if there is a way you can add sand or water? good Luck

Ob/GYN RN & mom

We use a plastic one and the best is that it is so easily cleanable..even though I disallowed food on it long ago it still gets gunky.

I plan to buy my children (who are older now) a more realistic kitchen soon as they still play kitchen all the time (at almost 7 and 4).

I don't ever really remember the plastic one tipping over. We bought it when my oldest turned 3. She loved it so:)

I make it a practice to buy as few plastic toys as possible. They outgas toxic fumes. If they're outside, they can blow away unless you weight them down. Wood is just as easy to clean. I don't really think you have to worry about kitchen equipment falling on your younger children. By the same token, you don't want something so light that it can easily tip over on a child. Children need to be monitored, no matter what they're playing with and on. Check out Hearthsong Catalog online. It has wonderful gifts for children at great prices. Why would you consider buying toxic, ecologically unfriendly petroleum based products for your children when there's a better choice? Almost all the plastic toys (except for a fire engine and some toy cars and trucks) I ever bought are gone from our lives. All the wooden ones are still in great shape, and can be handed down to my/our grandchildren. They're much healthier for children to be putting in their mouths, and they last much, much longer. They are also sustainably made. We have wooden puzzles, trains and train tracks, a wooden crane and trucks and buses, wooden beads, wooden pick-up stix, wooden chess/checkers/backgammon/parchesi sets, wooden fruits/vegetables/cutting boards/knives/groceries, a wooden dollhouse w/ wooden furniture and people, an ironing board and iron made of wood, play people and play animals made of wood, wooden dishes (We have plastic colorful dishes, silverwear and pots and pans, too.), a wooden stove and oven, wooden dominoes, a wooden croquet and badminton set, wooden musical instruments, a wooden loom, a wooden abacus, a wooden chair and table set, a wooden rocking chair, and many, many other things made of natural fibers and materials for children. A wooden sewing cube, wooden lacing sets, toddler books made of wood, wooden board games from Ravensburger, and tons of books and arts and crafts materials. Wow. That's quite the list! I surprised even myself. And all this stuff has lasted thru two children of my own and hundreds of friends, visitors and relatives, to say nothing of adults who like to play, too! Go to a store that carries both kinds of toys, and ask your hands, your body, your soul and your children which ones feel better. We have a really strong background in Waldorf and Montessori education and alternative health and lifestyles. Many of these ways of life STRONGLY encourage the use of only natural materials around children, and for very, very good reasons. Do some research on this! And visit a Waldorf Christmas/Kwanzaa/Yule/Hannukah Fair. We bought a set of hand-carved wooden animals and people for my children and these were amongst their favorite toys ever.

I think the plastic ones are better personally as they are easier to clean, easier to move and they are quite stable

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