Playing with pretend food is practically baked into every child’s DNA—as soon as babies can sit up in a high chair and throw cereal, kids realize food can become something to play with!
That’s why many kids gravitate towards pretend kitchens and play food: Eating is something they do every day, so it’s only natural they’ll mimic what they see from their parents and caregivers who prepare their food.
Our Top Play Food Toys for Kids
At Melissa & Doug, the #1 preschool brand for wooden toys, we specialize in pretend play that provides open-ended, imaginative play for kids of all ages, stages, and abilities. And we happen to think we’ve got the tastiest selection of play food items that parents can find, so we’ve curated this delicious dozen of our top play foods in one handy listicle for optimized shopping purposes. The recipe for successful pretend play awaits!
Wooden Cool Scoops Ice Creamery
Why It Should Be in Your Child’s Play Kitchen: Scoop up cool pretend play creations with this full-service ice cream shop! The sturdy wooden counter features an ice cream and soft serve dispenser. Use the scooper to lift wooden scoops and fill a soft, fabric, roll-up waffle cone. This 42-piece play food set offers kids 3+ countless opportunities to develop early learning skills and to create, imagine, and role play as both the customer and the server. All the pieces are stored on the counter for easy cleanup! Add toppings like sprinkles and hot fudge for an extra special treat! Helps kids develop fine-motor, sorting, and counting skills and promotes imaginative play and storytelling.
Deluxe Grill & Pizza Oven Play Set
Why It Should Be in Your Child’s Play Kitchen: Fire up pretend play with this perfectly kid-sized wooden barbecue grill, smoker, and pizza oven play set! Budding young chefs 3+ will love creating make-believe barbecue favorites -- and even play pizza! After mealtime, the more than 60 accessories and play food pieces all store neatly on the grill and storage shelf for easy clean-up. Grill includes built-in timer, dials to raise and lower “flames,” a smoker box with chimney for play wood chips, movable utensil rack, side burner, storage shelf, lid with safety-close hinge; removable thermometer can press into holes in wooden play food to test if they are “done.” Promotes hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, sorting and counting skills, storytelling ability, and imaginative play.
Sort Stock Select Vending Machine Play Set
Why It Should Be in Your Child’s Play Kitchen: Satisfy hungry imaginations with the push of a button! Open up the back of the unique wooden vending machine and stock it with nine double-sided play food packages, including snack bars, drinks, and pouches. On the front, select an item, insert a color-matching play coin or bank card, press the corresponding letter and number button, and the snack drops into the collection drawer! There’s a sign that can be personalized and a reusable activity card for keeping track of what to stock and what to display. Requires no assembly. All the pieces are stored in the vending machine for easy cleanup. No batteries required! Our Sort Stock Select Vending Machine is a fun way to teach cause-and-effect and encourage imaginative play, sorting, counting, letter recognition, and other developmental skills.
Disney Snacks & Popcorn Wooden Food Counter
Why It Should Be in Your Child’s Play Kitchen: Get playtime popping with pretend play popcorn and treats inspired by Disney’s Mickey Mouse and friends! There’s a Mickey-shaped wooden pretzel that hangs on a display hook, Mickey and Minnie Mouse-shaped wooden ice cream treats and cupcake, a cookie, a pineapple ice pop, popcorn, and drinks. There’s a magnetic menu board for matching activities, an ID badge to personalize for role playing, and play money to pay. All the pieces in the 33-piece play set store in the counter for easy cleanup. Put four durable jumbo popcorn pieces into the compartment and turn the knob back and forth for real popping action—a see-through window lets the customer see the popcorn jiggle and jump while the vendor pops! Our Disney Snacks & Popcorn Wooden Food Counter is a fun way to encourage imaginative role playing, sorting, counting, and other developmental skills
Food Groups
Why It Should Be in Your Child’s Play Kitchen: Planning a well-balanced meal is child's play with this wooden play food set. Items from the five food groups—including watermelon, milk, cheese, fish, eggs, and much more—are crafted of solid wood and come with four wooden baskets for sorting and storage.
Scoop & Serve Ice Cream Counter
Why It Should Be in Your Child’s Play Kitchen: Scoop up some cool treats with this all-inclusive, 28-piece pretend play ice cream counter! The sturdy wooden tabletop counter holds eight wooden scoops of different-flavored ice cream, six assorted toppings, two cones, a plastic cup, an ice cream scooper, tongs, and a wooden spoon. The scooper fits into a hole on top of the scoops to lift, stack, and release. Take orders on the reusable menu card, pay with play money, and serve up delicious fun!
Top & Bake Pizza Counter
Why It Should Be in Your Child’s Play Kitchen: Mama mia, it's pizza time! Create fresh-baked pizza, made to order, with this deliciously unique 34-piece pizza making set. Start with felt sauce and cheese on the wooden crust, choose from wooden toppings (pepperoni, olives, mushrooms, and peppers), then "bake" in the pizza oven built into the storage and serving counter. Pieces stick together with self-stick tabs and can be sliced with the rolling wooden cutter. The set comes with a grated cheese shaker, a wooden paddle, pizza box, a reusable menu for placing orders, a guide to help with pizza prep, and play money to pay for your order! Don’t miss this other great top-selling pizza-themed pretend toy: Pizza Party Wooden Play Food
Smoothie Maker Blender Set
Why It Should Be in Your Child’s Play Kitchen: Whip up delicious playtime smoothies with this pretend play blender! Use the wooden knife to slice wooden fruits and vegetables, choose other healthful ingredients, like kale or protein powder, and pop them in the blender. Add a dash of pretend milk, spin the dial to blend, pour into a cup with lid and straw, and serve! There's a double-sided reusable menu card for taking orders, and cup inserts to add realistic color to smoothies.
Ice Cream Take-Along Toy
Why It Should Be in Your Child’s Play Kitchen: This super-sweet clip-on vibrating pull-toy is a delicious way to entertain babies while stimulating their senses—without the sugar rush! It looks like a soft, smiling ice cream cone, but pull it down and it expands to four stacked scoops in different patterns, colors, and textures (cotton, corduroy, and quilted materials). When baby lets go, the cone vibrates and plays chiming sounds as it jiggles its way back to a single cone!
Cutting Food
Why It Should Be in Your Child’s Play Kitchen: This wooden play food set is perfect for young chefs looking to explore a little mealtime fun—without the mess! It includes eight pieces of wooden food that can be sliced into 27 sections, a cutting board, and a wooden knife. Cutting the food makes a satisfying "crunch"—and provides a playful introduction to concepts of "whole," "part," and fractions.
Stainless Steel Pots & Pans Play Set
Why It Should Be in Your Child’s Play Kitchen: Open your own sandwich shop with this 33-piece smorgasbord of fabulous felt food pieces! Use white or wheat bread slices or a pita pocket, then layer on the meats, cheeses, vegetables, condiments and more. Build a submarine, a grinder, a hoagie or a Dagwood sandwich! With dozens of sandwich stuffers included, we've got the ingredients for any special order!
Bake & Decorate Cupcake Set
Why It Should Be in Your Child’s Play Kitchen: Be sure your little baker uses the oven mitt to remove these 4 delectable-looking wooden cupcakes from their cupcake baking tray! This special set has 3 dry-erase markers shaped like icing tubes to decorate the smooth, removable, wipe-off cupcake tops. With 8 colorful baking cupcake sleeves and 4 decorative wooden candles, these low-cal cupcakes will be the hit of playtime birthday and tea parties!
Slice & Bake Cookie Set
Why It Should Be in Your Child’s Play Kitchen: Slice and "bake" a dozen wooden cookies for a sweet playtime treat! This colorful wooden set includes 12 wooden, sliceable cookies and 12 toppings, wooden knife, spatula, cookie sheet and a kitchen mitt for safe, deliciously imaginative play! The cookies are stored in a durable dough tube. If you love to celebrate the holidays all year long, we also offer a Slice & Bake Christmas Cookie Play Set, too!
Fridge Food
Why It Should Be in Your Child’s Play Kitchen: Unpack these "chilled" wooden groceries into your play fridge and freezer for really "cool" food play! Perfect for make-believe or as novel manipulatives for counting, sorting and more. Nine wooden pieces include orange juice, waffles, milk, ice cream, cheese, yogurt, bologna, frozen vegetables, and butter.
Let’s Play House! Grocery Cans
Why It Should Be in Your Child’s Play Kitchen: Stock a pretend pantry with this collection of lidded cardboard play-food cans and you'll have all the ingredients for colorful, imaginative grocery-store play. Open and close, fill and stack, sort and match the canned food toys—this set has a pretend-play flavor for every taste!
Grill & Serve BBQ Set
Why It Should Be in Your Child’s Play Kitchen: Fire up the imagination while firing up this pretend play BBQ with all the "fixins" for a fantastic feast! The 20-piece wooden food set includes grilling favorites like hot dog, hamburger, chicken, steak, ribs, veggie burger, and corn, plus tasty toppings and sturdy utensils. Flip the sturdy corrugated box over and it becomes the "grill," with pictures of knobs for adjusting the temperature and four self-stick tabs to hold the food. Double-sided food pieces show one side uncooked--flip the pieces with the tongs or spatula, and the other side appears cooked! After mealtime, use the grill/corrugated box as a handy storage place for all the items!
Click through the links below for more great toy content from Melissa & Doug:
Shop Melissa & Doug Pretend Play Toys
Shop Melissa & Doug Play Food & Play Sets
Explore Melissa & Doug’s Living Playfully Blog
Use the Melissa & Doug Gift Finder
Learn More Melissa & Doug Skills at Play
Explore Melissa & Doug Sticker WOW! Collection
Best Outdoor Toys for Active Toddlers
Diaper Bag Must-Haves: Our Top Baby Toys to Take on the Go
