My children, not unlike their mother, really enjoy learning. We practice with worksheets, either printed or homemade, and I try to come up with fun new ways to teach them things. I was absolutely in love with Lakeshore Learning the minute that I clicked on their website! So many spectacular educational activities to choose from, how could I ever decide which one to get?!
When I saw the “Let’s Pretend Restaurant Writing Box”, I knew that was the one. One of the things I used to enjoy as a kid was pretending that I was a waitress and serving my parents. My kids share that same affinity, I don’t know what it is about it but it’s fun! I love when they take my order and bring my play food (usually a toy block!) for me to pretend to gobble and thank them. Why not incorporate this imaginative play into a learning session?! Well, that’s exactly what Lakeshore Learning did!
The Let’s Pretend Restaurant Writing Box is great for helping with vocabulary, writing letters and numbers, and also for addition if you’re working with older kids! Not to mention, it encourages imagination and bonding if it’s something you enjoy doing with your children like I do! Inside the box, you get a magnetic board, 15 magnetic word pieces, 20 magnetic numbers, 4 write off & wipe cards, and an activity guide. The magnetic board is a menu board and the word pieces are different food/drink options such as eggs and milk. Using the number pieces, your child composes their own pricing for each menu item.
With the four erasable Guest Check cards, not only are they conversing with you to take your order, but they can reference the board for the prices. A young child who is still learning to write, like my four year old, can copy the words and prices from the menu board. They write the food item and price on the Guest Check cards.
The food cards are either red, blue, green, or yellow which is wonderful for working with the children on colors also. I told them to replace a blue food card with a green food card and other things like that to help practice learning colors! There’s also an additional menu with pictures on the back of the magnetic menu for more vocabulary play.
I love that Let’s Pretend Restaurant Writing Box can grow with your child too. From the preschooler still being introduced to words and numbers to the second grader working with addition. I practiced numbers with my two year old, letting him choose what food to put on the menu and then telling him which numbers he was holding as he bult the prices. My eight year old daughter can calculate each person’s tab for their total cost. What a genius idea to take such a popular kids make believe subject and make it educational!
These are the types of activities that I like to get involved with the kids. I’m not sure why but I’ve always found it adorable when they take my order or interview me for a pretend newspaper, things like that. I guess because I was so into those things when I was a child. Not only would I recommend this learning activity to others but childhood me would want them too. Now that Lakeshore Learning is on my radar, I know that we’ll be buying other products from them. I like to prepare my children before they are even old enough for school and playful activities like this are exactly how we get there and nourish that love for learning!
BUY:
You can purchase the Lakeshore Learning Let’s Pretend Restaurant Writing Box for $29.99 here at LakeshoreLearning.com.
Don’t forget to use this 20% off coupon for your purchase!
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*The Crunchy Mom Next Door received the above item(s) in exchange for her honest review. All opinions and experiences are her own only.