There is nothing Jasmin loves more that to play "kitchen". It is her favorite game, no matter where she is. Jasmin just likes to serve food, and she does it whenever and wherever she can, serving a verity of items.
At home she is always taking out all the pots and pans from her kitchen crate. She places the small plastic tools in all the esoteric corners of the house and serves and mixes and cooks in them to her hearts content. I find myself scooping the plastic tools from any number of nooks and crannies. Jasmin likes to serve any verity of toys as food (not necessarily food like items, which she has in abundance in her kitchen set) , but she does not insist that we play at eating the food she serves. One time she took Jonathan's "angry birds" collection (pencil tip figurines of the famous bird characters) and fried them in a plastic pan, stirring away for a full ten minutes. She also likes to eat real food with her play plates and cups. Especially drinking milk of juice using a small plastic cup is a favorite. Jasmin has learned that when one is finishes a meal (for real), we put the plates and glasses away in the sink in the kitchen, hence I often find her play set items in there as well.
Wherever Jasmin goes, she zooms in on the kitchen set. In her own kindergarten, I often find her playing cook when I come to pick her up. When she accompanies me to Jonathan's kindergarten, she runs directly to the kitchen playing corner in his kindergarten as well. She has very quickly learned exactly where this is located in the rather large facility. When she is visiting her grandparents, she also has a kitchen corner there too. Even when taking as bath, she enjoys playing with her plastic kitchen set. pouring water form the various cups. In fact, she enjoys serving "food" to all members of the family, no matter where they are - including the toilet...
Jasmin never forgets the spoon! Whether she is eating for real or serving play food in her plastic kitchen, there is always a teaspoon to be had. Jasmin can by now stand on a small stool and take a spoon out of the kitchen drawer by herself! She is always asking for a spoon when she comes to ask for food or a snack. She selects her favorite spoons - she likes real metal spoons (plastic will no longer do) with special children motifs. Luckily her German grandmother has indeed provided such metal sets with cute animals on the edge of the cutlery handle.
If Jasmin knows that dinner is about to be served, she will happily set about to setting the table, taking plates and cups and cutlery from the lower drawers, in which I purposely placed plates and cups for the kids, within there reach. she does this however, only for real and no as a game. Jasmin may also try to invite Jonathan to join her in a meal. She will then take two portions (for example two cups of pudding) and set a portion aside for Jonathan as well. she then will insist that he eat - even if he is not interested! Jasmin can be very pervasive...
It is interesting to see however, that Jasmin is not particularly interested in the real kitchen. After a short period in which she emptied out the drawers with the plastic plates and cups in our kitchen, she has lost interest in it. Jasmin (unlike Jonathan when he was smaller) has no compulsion to drum on my pots and pans and no need to empty every drawer and cupboards in my kitchen. When she is hungry or thirsty, she know to demand and to show me what she needs, even opening cabinets or asking me to open the fridge in the process, looking for whatever her heart fancies. But her interest in the real kitchen remains a functional one - she comes there when she wants to eat!
Considering her ability to understand the way things function and her interest in the theme of kitchen, food and cooking, I often wonder if Jasmin will turn out to be a good partner to real cooking and baking when she is a bit older...(Jonathan always loses interest after a minute or so). I must wait patiently for my answer. Only time will tell...
