Introducing The Real Life Play Kitchen limited-edition Lovevery x Our Place collaboration

Lovevery has teamed up with Our Place on a limited-edition version of The Real Life Play Kitchen: a working kitchen for building practical skills and a new set of cooking tools for exploring pretend play in more depth.

This Lovevery kitchen still gives your child opportunities to do the real tasks they’re so interested in – turning on running water, filling a cup, rinsing fruit and vegetables, preparing a simple snack and cleaning up.

But the new limited edition, designed in Our Place’s signature Blue Salt colourway, also comes with a Pretend Play Cooking Set: a play-sized version of Our Place’s iconic Always Pan, a wooden spatula, and a silicone play hob mat.

6 ways to use the kitchen for real and pretend play

Between real kitchen tasks and make-believe play, there’s a different way to use this kitchen almost every day of the week – and just as many ways to blend the two together. Here are just a few ideas to get you started:

1. Rinse real ingredients, then “cook” them.

Invite your child to wash a few pieces of fruit or vegetables in the working sink. When you’ve finished with the real food, they can use the play-sized Always Pan to pretend they’re preparing their own version of the meal.

2. Let them cook what you’re cooking.

If you’re making pasta, soup, or scrambled eggs, describe a few simple things you’re doing: “I’m stirring.” “Now I’m adding the tomatoes.” Your child may want to recreate those same steps alongside you with their pan and spatula.

3. Open a restaurant.

You can be the first customer, but let your child decide what’s on the menu. Ask, “What are you making today?” rather than suggesting an answer. Their speciality may be something you’ve never heard of.

4. Add real cleaning up to imaginary cooking.

When the pretend meal is over, your child can bring the play dishes to the sink, turn on the water, and practise rinsing and drying. Make-believe gets a practical ending, too.

5. Invent a recipe together.

Ask your child what their pretend dish needs, then see if a real ingredient will do the trick: a pinch of actual cinnamon, a real lemon wedge. Blending the real and the imaginary into one “recipe” is half the fun.

6. Put the real tools to work.

This limited edition still comes with real tools like the Wooden Chopper and the Colander. Let your child chop a soft banana or drain cooked pasta: real jobs that build real skills, from coordinating both hands to following several steps in a row – and they’re just as fun as the pretend ones.

The limited-edition Lovevery x Our Place Real Life Play Kitchen and Pretend Play Cooking Set is available exclusively on Lovevery.com while stocks last.

The Real Life Play Kitchen

Go beyond pretend play with a play kitchen that really works.

Learn more