Well the dried pasta and peas in our role play kitchen proved very popular with the children, so the following week I added resources to encourage tea making (always good to train them up in essential life skills while they’re young!)
We started off with china cups, teabags, pretend milk and sugar, and water in the teapot.
Initially I couldn’t decide whether to have water or not. In the end I decided to add it but it didn’t really work. Although the children enjoyed it, with them all being under 2, I found it hindered rather than enhanced play. I had to supervise the children quite closely and spended most of the time mopping it up from the floor, so that they children didn’t slip up.
In the end I opted to remove it, for the time being we’ll keep the water for play in the outdoor kitchen.
Removing the water didn’t affect the children’s interest. With a little initial direction, they soon got the hang of making tea:-)
Adding water (not always to the cups!)…
. …teabags….
…and then milk.
I watched R playing for a while and she was determined to get the teabag to balance on the spoon!
This activity even attracted the attention of usually more reluctant role-players.
K even participated and there wasn’t a wheel in sight!
