Eat your Fruits and Veggies, Just not These Play Fruits & Veggies by Melissa & Doug!

We have a lot of play food in this house. Froot Loop and Cocoa Puff love to play with the food and dishes in their play kitchen. While I usually go for felt or wooden food, I saw these sets were by Melissa and Doug, so even though they are molded plastic, I thought I’d give them a try. 

There is a fruit set with 9 pieces and a vegetable set with 7. Both of these sets come in a cool wooden crate that is good for storage or play. 

The thing I really like about these fruits and vegetables is that they look like the real thing. I want to take a bite out of them. They’re real size, which is rare to find in play food. Even though they’re plastic, they look like the real thing.  

The fruit set includes a red apple, lemon, peach, two strawberries, banana, plum, orange, and pear.

The vegetables are a red tomato, cucumber, red pepper, ear of corn, carrot, red onion, and a russet potato. 

So far they have held up well to typical kiddo antics. Froot Loop likes to put them in his blender and make smoothies. Cocoa Puff likes to throw them around and hold them. They go well in our Melissa and Doug kitchen, even though they’re larger scale than all of our other play food (except some felt food that I made full scale). The full-sized fruits and veggies look kind of silly in the small, kid-sized pots and pans and plates and bowls, but it doesn’t really matter in the long run. These fruits and vegetables are made better than the other plastic foods we have. They don’t cave in or fall apart. They are perhaps the best, most durable plastic play food I’ve come across. 

So, if you can get over the scale difference, these make a great addition to your play food and play kitchen. Playing with play food stimulates the imagination and develops creativity. Plus, it’s just a lot of fun! 

What’s your favorite fruit and vegetable?