Pretend Play

Pretend play toys give children the tools of grown-up life in their own size: here, a wooden play kitchen, a coffee machine, a till, a workbench, a gardening bag and costumes. Most sets suit ages 3 and up, with a few slicing sets from 18 months.

Children's role play toys for the kitchen, café and shop

The kitchen corner is where most children begin: breakfast appliances that pop and whirr, a coffee machine and cups to serve the grown-ups. Sliceable fruit, cupcakes and bread let lunch be cut and served as many times as the guests ask. Add the cash register or the grocery stall and the kitchen turns into a shop, with a customer, a shopkeeper and plenty of counting.

What to choose at 2, 3 and 4

Role play toys for toddlers should stay simple: the cookware and tableware set and the sliceable vegetables are enough for a toddler to stir, pour and feed a teddy. From 3, children start following a little story, so the workbench, the toolbox, the cleaning set and the tea party set come into play. From 4, costumes join in: a princess, a cowboy or a soldier gives a child a whole character to play, often with a friend.

Choosing imagination toys your child will come back to

Pick the sets that mirror what your child sees at home. A child who watches you make coffee every morning will spend far longer with the barista set than with something unfamiliar. Copying real tasks is what practical life means in the Montessori method, and the cleaning set and garden spade carry it straight into real chores. For older children, the Roberval balance scale (5+) brings proper weighing into the shop game.

Rather than explaining how to play, give the game its first line: ‘the café opens in five minutes’ or ‘teddy needs his dinner’. Children take it from there, and these Montessori games rarely go the same way twice.