One thing many of us intuitively know, but the book Hunt, Gather, Parent certainly hit home (at least for me), is that kids inherently want to not only mimic their parents/caretakers, but they innately want to help us and be part of our lives. From a very early age I could tell my son was fascinated by everything from laundry (he found the turning relaxing even at just a few weeks old) to cleaning the dishes. It can be so helpful to get our kids involved in these every day activities – especially if we want them to proactively be responsible for doing them a few years down the line independently. Unfortunately, getting a toddler involved in household chores can, as we all know, slow things down in an endless number of ways. That’s where Melissa & Doug Let’s Play House Dust! Sweep! Mop! comes in.
This kid sized cleaning kit (very in line with Montessori) is great because it comes with a stand (toddlers will love taking the items off and putting back on over and over again). It’s also durable (even in the hands of rowdy toddlers) and appeals to a wide age range – I’ve had a two year old as happily play with this as I’ve watched a six year old. That said, older children may get frustrated that the items aren’t actually all that useable (particularly the dust pan which isn’t actually effective at collecting dust). This set will nonetheless provide plenty of imaginative play time as kiddos tidy up alongside mom and dad.
