10 Best Play Food Sets Reviewed in 2024

Educational Value

Food groups are something that every child learns about in their health class at school, and one thing that can absolutely be reinforced at home. Just because the food they’re playing with is fake, doesn’t mean that what they learn has to be! This toy food set by Melissa & Doug perfectly represents several food groups including grains, produce, dairy, and meats. Each food group is crucial to the development of a human being and your kids will have the chance to understand how important it is to have each one of these through imaginative play.

Durability

The foods also come in their own separate crates so they’re easy to carry, transport, and put away when not in use. These wooden crates can also come in super handy for kids learning how to create a well-balanced meal, and they can practice mixing and matching various food groups to create something well-rounded and fun.

Design

This is a fun way to teach children about all of their main food groups through imaginative play, which is something they’re very familiar with. It makes learning fun while giving them the freedom to play how they want to, with the foods they want.

Educational Value

The Fruit and Veggie Tote is perfect for kids just beginning to learn about fresh produce, and it’s a great way to cement the idea of freshness and healthy foods at a young age. It’s one thing to see their parents buying fresh produce, but it’s a whole new experience for them to have their own! By giving your child fresh produce to play with, they’ll learn about all the things that are healthy for them and be able to carry it around in a cute little shopping bag, not unlike mom and dad.

Durability

Each piece of this realistic toy food is composed of a soft rubber-like plastic material. The material not only feels pleasant to touch but also gives each item a high level of durability. All of the fruits and vegetables are crush resistant. The included grocery bag is designed to be reusable and will survive countless grocery shopping trips.

Design

With your purchase, you will receive a canvas tote and an assortment of sixteen different fruits and vegetables. Children ages two and up can increase their sensory skills by feeling the different textures of each piece of produce. The bright colors will further develop your child’s knowledge of color recognition. Even with all of the pieces of produce inside the canvas tote is still lightweight enough to carry. The attached handles make it easier for your child to transport this play food set from place to place.

Educational Value

It’ll teach them about moderation and give them a chance to see almost every food group represented in front of them, and if nothing else, it encourages act imaginative play. This is one instance where it’s totally acceptable and beneficial for them to be playing with their food!

Durability

This toy food set is one of the most realistic sets on the market and will keep your kid interested as they play. Its a life-like bowl of cereal and macaroni ‘n cheese are sure to make you do a double-take! Make-believe plays with this faux play dishes will encourage kids to expand their vocabulary and mimic daily mealtimes. Unlike many faux food sets, this set includes a variety of foods that your kid may already be familiar with.

Design

How adorably realistic is this pretend food? The Munch It! food by New Sprouts is the perfect first pretend food set for toddlers because it features food that they’re already familiar with and may even currently eat. It’s mostly comfort food that ranges from cereal to mac ‘n cheese, with all kinds of snacks and various produce in between. It gives toddlers the chance to play with their food, in a sense, and to play with things they know and already love

Educational Value

This New Sprouts Dinner Basket by Learning Resources is an amazing way to introduce culinary arts young aspiring chefs. This crush-resistant, highly durable food set has everything that a pretend chef needs to create a gourmet dinner. With its vibrant colors and the realistic food in the dinner basket, your kid will have a blast serving themselves and others, as this play food set comes with a serving bowl. In addition to learning real-life skills such as creating meals and serving others, your kid will expand their vocabulary as they learn the names of the different items that are in the food basket.

Durability

The dinner playfood set is great for travel since it comes with plastic to fit all the foods back into, and would make an adorable toy to take on a real picnic. While your child is setting up their pretend food, you can bring the real thing!

Design

We know that toddlers might be way too young to eat an entire steak dinner, but this is a fun picnic set that will make them feel a little more grown-up. This starter dinner set comes with everything they need to make a pretend dinner, including the main course, sides, a water glass, and even dessert! Kids will have a blast throwing their own dinner parties and serving up their pretend food that they’ve “cooked” themselves. These food toys sets would make a great addition to an already existing pretend kitchen, but is perfect just on its own as well.

Educational Value

This pretends BBQ lunch set will encourage your child to use their imagination and engage in pretend play. Each food item is doubled and there are two silverware sets so your child can improve their social skills and share the set with friends. Allowing others to join in on the fun is a great way to teach your child how to share. Teach your little one about grill safety by having them pick up the pretend patties with the toy tongs. The included pretend corn is a great way to show your child the importance of including vegetables into every meal.

Durability

No longer is grillin’ just for the boys, thanks to the gender-neutral colors of this barbeque set, girls can enjoy time on the grill, too. This set is complete with everything a kid needs to prepare an awesome, realistic barbeque. With the Backyard Barbeque Grillin’ Goodies by Little Tykes, kids can learn the names of grilling utensils as well as differentiate a hamburger bun and hotdog bun, and condiments such as mustard and ketchup. Kids can pretend to play a variety of games, like grilling in the backyard, having a picnic at the park or shopping at the grocery store with this fantastic food toy set. This barbeque lunch set includes enough play pieces for 2 kids to use together.

Design

The Grillin’ Goodies toy food set is perfect for kids who love summer and being outdoors while the family barbeques. If your kids are always looking to help you with the grill but are just way too young to do so, this is a great set to consider to give them a chance to “make” their own BBQ fun. The set features everything they need (except a grill) to put together their own spicy and savory feast and definitely doesn’t skip out on realism or design to do so. This set even provides kids with the condiments that you always need to have on your picnic table in addition to all the tools they need to flip some burgers or turn a steak. It’s a cute set that has the feel of a real BBQ dinner and will give kids a sense of pride and creativity when they’re playing with it.

Educational Value

Now that we’re starving, let’s talk about this pretend Sandwich-Making Set. It’s a fun way for kids to do what they see their parents doing every day, but without the mess and the need to actually eat the sandwich...Because let’s face it, not everything kids can find to put on a sandwich is appetizing! This just gives them a unique way to be creative with food, especially for toddlers who aren’t old enough to actually cook or prepare food for themselves yet. The crunching sound as the wooden knife is sliced across the food pieces can help introduce the idea of freshness of ingredients. This helps in expanding kids’ imagination and creativity.

Durability

The toy food set contains everything a child could dream of to layer on a sandwich or even multiple sandwiches, and it all comes in an adorable little ingredient box. It’s a great starter set for pretend food and will give kids a sense of independence and know-how for when they finally are old enough to start cooking.

Design

Taking something that kids are already familiar with and giving them a toy that represents that is a great way to help them learn. This set may just look like ordinary pretend food, but it’s actually a great way to teach them how to create culinary dishes and learn what does and doesn’t go together --There’s no wrong way to create a sandwich!

Educational Value

You may be wondering why there are a bunch of pretend cans of food on our list of the best toy food sets. We wondered that ourselves until we realized how much a child can get from the label on a piece of pretend canned food. All kids have seen their parents do it while shopping -- You pick up a can of food, read it, and then decide whether or not you want to put it in your cart to bring home.

There’s so much importance in that exchange that we often just push it aside when we can really be learning from it! The label on a can could potentially tell you so much about the food that’s inside of it and pretend food is no different. These labels represent real foods that kids would find in the supermarket any day, and it can teach them a valuable lesson about what they want and don’t want in a canned food item. It’s also a great way to teach them how to read and more specifically, how to read in regards to food and their health.

Durability

Pantries aren’t complete without canned goods. This food set is excellent for teaching your kid about the convenience and essentiality of canned goods in daily life. With their brightly printed labels, kids can begin to identify what letter each food begins with and eventually read the names of each canned good.

Design

The cans even include realistic nutritional labels on the back so that kids can learn about the basics of nutrition. This canned food set promotes independence as the lids are easy to take off and put on without adult assistance.

Educational Value

This huge toy food assortment set is essential for every kid who already has a play kitchen to have. With a large variety of food choices, your kid will be able to identify many different foods and colors, create and serve meals as well as pretend grocery shop.

Durability

The plastic is very durable and can hold up well against rough play and not-so-pretend eating, as the food looks so realistic that smaller kids may try to bite into it. For the fact that the food pieces come equipped with drainage holes, they could easily be used during baths or in the pool for extra fun.

Design

This toy food set would be perfect in addition to a pretend kitchen but works well enough for imaginative play on its own as well. Each food group is represented here for the most part, and with 101 well-designed pretend food pieces, your child will have no shortage of creative meal ideas. Each piece of food is created to be safe for kids of all ages and with enough detail to be able to tell which real food it’s modeled after. It’s the perfect all-inclusive pretend food set that your little culinary gourmet needs to really set off their cooking career. Your child will be acting like a seasoned chef in no time, even if they can’t really eat this food!

Educational Value

This play food set is intended for color-matching since each food represents a color block and comes with five different baskets for matching, but it can be used a counting tool as well or just for imaginative play. Each food that comes in this set represents a certain color and goes with a color group, helping kids differentiate between colors through food while also encouraging them to improve their matching skills. This fun food game can be used as a counting game as well if you have them count each food as they put it in or pull it out of the designated basket. It’s an all-around great learning tool and something kids will actually want to use because of the familiarity of the foods included.

Durability

All of the fruits and veggies are composed of sturdy plastic. If your child ends up tossing the food items into the baskets, they will be perfectly fine. The baskets are also composed of the same material, thus they are designed to withstand your child’s play sessions.

Design

This set includes twenty-five different fruits and veggies ranging in five colors. Along with the pretend food, there are five plastic baskets, stick-on labels, and an activity guide included with your purchase. Each stick-on label reads a different color and is designed to be placed on one of the baskets. Using the labels, your child can sort the food by color. Purple, Yellow, Orange, Red, and Green are all available colors. The font on the labels is large and easy to read. The baskets are designed to mimic real bushel baskets that your child may have seen at their local farmers market. Each basket is four inches tall thus making it super easy for your child to use.

Educational Value

For something a little more familiar and kid-friendly, perhaps a typical fridge pretends food set is precisely what your little one needs. This set comes with all the foods they see on the regular in their refrigerators, such as waffles, lunch meat, ice cream, and cheese, just to name a few. It’s excellent for a pretend kitchen because kids will practice learning what should and shouldn’t go in the refrigerator by practicing on their own, but it’ll also teach them about real foods that need to be kept at a cold temperature.

By using foods that most kids love, they’ll be more apt to play with them and come up with new and creative ways to incorporate them into imaginative play. Whether they’re playing alone or with friends, this is a great set for learning about all the cold foods that most of us know and love. It’ll definitely be helpful later on down the line as well -- No one wants soupy ice cream that’s been put in the refrigerator rather than the freezer! Teach kids at a young age so that melted ice cream is never a problem they have to deal with.

Durability

This toy food is one of the most realistic play food sets on the market as it’s geared towards everyday, common foods that kids see in their refrigerators. It’s safe and durably made for hours of pretend-play as each item is made out of hand-painted wood. For this reason, none of the play kitchen foods included in this set has an expiration date, ensuring years of fun to come.

Design

Pretend waffles, milk, ice cream, swiss cheese, butter, orange juice, frozen veggies, and yogurt are all included in this set. The hand-painted design of each item allows your child to make the connection between pretend and reality. Each piece was created to fit in the hands of a child correctly. Boys and girls of all ages can easily stock their pretend fridges and freezers. Your child can increase their familiarity with letters and words as each item is designed with a realistic-looking food label. Children ages three and up can enjoy hours of creative pretend to play with this food set.