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    Home » Blog

    9 DIY Play Food Crafts & Why We Love Them!

    Published: Jun 20, 2020 · Modified: Feb 2, 2021 by Marcie Groller · This post may contain affiliate links

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    We love making crafts that we can actually play with. Over the past several months, we have come up with quite a collection of DIY play food. My kids love playing make believe. They are often chefs, grocery shoppers or bakers, so our play food gets tons and tons of traction.

    Skip to Play Food Crafts

    ALL THE BENEFITS OF DIY Play Food CraftS

    In our opinion, there are tons of benefits to making your own pretend food. We find that making your own play food can:

    🍎 encourage imaginative play! 🍎

    After crafting, my kids are usually eager to play with their creations right away. I love listening to them play together in such a creative way. This comes in handy especially when I'm cooking dinner, because it gives me some extra time to get dinner on the table.

    More importantly, imaginative play has real benefits to kids' development. When kids play pretend with play food or other toys, they have a chance to practice their developing language and social-emotional skills.  Kids can engage in pretend dialogue and practice sharing and taking turns. Playing "restaurant" or" store" also gives kids a chance to experiment with different social roles and to take into account others' perspectives.

    You can read more about the importance of pretend play in this great article for parents by Scholastic. Connie at Kid Chenz also gives a great overview of pretend play and its benefits, along with tips for parents on how to encourage their kids' imaginative play. 

    dolls with play food asparagus

    Note: This post contains affiliate links.

    🍎 increase the odds that kids will Eat Their Food 🍎

    We usually create a pretend version of the main ingredient from our meal (like our Play Food Carrots). This allows the kids to make a connection between what they’re making and what they’re eating.  When my kids understand that the ingredients going into a meal aren’t so scary or gross, they are usually more likely to eat the meal. The USDA's ChooseMyPlate.gov is a great resource for teaching kids about healthy foods and nutrition. 

    child holding play food carrots1
    gnawing on carrot

    🍎 Help kids learn about food 🍎

    When making our play food, we usually discuss some fun facts about the foods we are designing, like their origin and nutritional benefits. These discussions often spark more questions and curiosity about how foods are produced and harvested.

    According to Dr. Jennifer Cohen, the Fussy Eating Doctor, parents can start teaching kids about food by discussing the parts of food and what they do for kids' bodies. According to Cohen, this can send a more personal and meaningful message to kid.  Some good sites for this info are: Choose My Plate (by the USDA) and Science Kids.

    child pretending to eat watermelon

    🍎 Support developmental skills and build confidence 🍎

    Many of our crafts enable our preschool/early primary-school aged kids to practice their developing skills, like fine motor (e.g., cutting, gluing) and math (e.g., counting, measuring). Practicing these skills will help build kids' self-confidence and prepare them to participate in learning activities more easily and willingly in school. You'll find that so many of the skills involved in making and playing with play food translate to skills that teachers hone in on in early education.

    Note: We love Wescott's kid-friendly scissors (pictured below),  and we recently tried their left-handed kid scissors which have been great for my lefty daughter. 

    Child cutting yellow tissue paper for play food tortellini

    🍎 Save money! 🍎

    Why buy play food when you can make it yourself?! Our crafts typically require supplies that many people already have laying around the house (e.g., paper, glue, paint). We try to keep it simple!

    supplies for pop-out play food peppers

    Check our our collection of fun, DIY play food!

     

    • blue, green and red dyed pasta
      How to Dye Pasta for Crafts
    • red and white Mushroom Village house
      Adorable Mushroom Craft for Kids
    • fake mac and cheese on a doll's table
      Fake Mac and Cheese Craft
    • Fun Play Dough Activity: DIY Burgers and Fries
    • Child holding completed olive oil bottle craft with "Olive Oil" logo
      Play Food Olive Oil Bottle
    • child holding two pepper plate watermelons
      Paper Plate Watermelon Craft with Yarn
    • four paper peppers
      Pop-Up Paper Peppers
    • bunch of playfood asparagus tied together with string
      Play Food Asparagus
    • girl holding her tomato art
      Paper Plate Tomato Craft with Sponge Art
    • hand holding carrot craft
      Play Food Carrot Craft
    • three felt hot dogs
      Hot Dog Craft with Felt
    • red paper plate pizza with paper toppings
      Paper Plate Pizza Craft
    • child holding playfood tortellini
      Tissue Paper Tortellini

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