Felt Food vs Plastic Food

[AnythingsPossible]

I need to get all new food for our kitchen. I am debating between making felt food or buying plastic food. Looking for opinions on each option. My concern with felt is cleaning and sanitizing.

[JenNJ]

I use both. The felt food I just wash in a mesh laundry bag on the gentle cycle. I do reserve the felt food for the older kids though.

[littlemommy]

I have plastic food. It seems to be so tempting for the toddlers to put in their mouths. Easier to clean though!

[melskids]

I have a hodge podge of felt, plastic, and wood. I throw the felt in the washer, and clean the wood just like the plastic.

[WImom]

I have both too. I would do plastic if I had a alot of mouthers though.

[KEG123]

I have wooden and hate it! I'll be getting felt soon! Where do you all buy from?

[Mommy2One]

Perfect timing!

I just saw Ikea's felt food on their website and was wondering if felt food (and Ikea's in particular) was any good. We currently have the bargain plastic variety and, while it gets the job done, it's small scale and not very realistic so I was considering an upgrade for my daughter's birthday.

I was looking at the Melissa & Doug wooden cutting food but the Ikea felt sets are cute and a lot cheaper.

KEG - why do you hate wooden?

Which kind do the kids play with more?

[KEG123]

We have melissa and doug and the paint chips so so bad!

[Ariana]

I hve felt, plastic and wooden food. I much prefer the plastic because it's easier to clean (just pop it under hot water when needed) and it looks so much more like real food!! Next would be the wooden food. It's also easy to clean and looks real, but the paint chips so I hate it when my toddler mouths it. The felt is a PITA and I'd never buy it again. I have an Ikea ice cream and cookie set and the kids find it hard to use and it doesn't really look that realistic. The plastic ice cream set I have gets much more use. I also find that the cleaning process is much more time consuming because it has to be dried before going back to the play room.

I'd go for wood or plastic!

[Ariana]

Perfect timing!

I just saw Ikea's felt food on their website and was wondering if felt food (and Ikea's in particular) was any good. We currently have the bargain plastic variety and, while it gets the job done, it's small scale and not very realistic so I was considering an upgrade for my daughter's birthday.

I was looking at the Melissa & Doug wooden cutting food but the Ikea felt sets are cute and a lot cheaper.

KEG - why do you hate wooden?

Which kind do the kids play with more?

I have the wooden cutting set and the kids enjoy cutting the food, but it's hard for them to do it. Only the older kids have the strength to really push and cut the velcro. You also have to constantly put the pieces back together because mostly te kids just rip them apart. Then when a piece goes missing the veggie never looks right!!

[saved4always]

I have plastic food. I had to take all the ones with little holes in them away though. The kids would **** on them and get spit inside....yuck! I like plastic for easy cleaning, but, if I was going to get more, I would make sure it is all one piece with no air holes.

[BigMama]

On my wish list is knitted food. I saw some really cute sets on Etsy. They are a little more pricey than the other alternatives, but mesh well with the aesthetic I am going for. I also think that they would be easy to clean in the washer, safe (no worries about paint or unsafe plastic), and no harm done if they get chewed on.

[MrsB]

I really dislike play food right now! I swear it is the culprit for all the runny noses this season. They have such a difficult time keeping it from their mouth! I wash it in bleach solution every other night, but still! I felt like a broken record "not in your mouth" "on the plate only" Finally I put it up for awhile. Which was really rough because it is their FAVORITE thing to play with. Everyone got better and no runny noses for almost 2 weeks. Got the food back out. Runny noses are back! I give up! Is it spring yet, maybe then I can blame it on allergies!

[Country Kids]

I actually have a huge playhouse in my backyard the kids are dying to go into. There is a kitchen, table, toys, etc. in the backyard. I'm going to not open it up though until I can take all the plastic food out because this group puts everything in their mouths. I'm talking even the 4 year olds!!!! So they will have to use their imaginations pretty well because its not going in there until they are much older.

[Mom&Provider]

I use all plastic here. I like that I can dump it into hot soapy water whenever I want/need to and it's done! I do have mostly little ones here tho, so they do tend to put more into their mouth then bigger kids...