marytara's Full Review: - Pretend Play - Melissa and Doug Ice Cream Parlor...
My 4 1/2 year old daughter is all about pretend play. She started around age 2 and has yet to stop - play kitchen, tea parties, dress up - you name it. One of her favorite things to play with is her fancy wood kitchen and assorted play food. I'm a huge fan of wooden toys and since she already had sets from Melissa and Doug including pretend pizza, a birthday cake, cutting food, and even sushi - this ice cream set seemed like a natural winner. It was one of the items that I put on her Christmas wishlist last holiday time, and of course she received it from her grandmother. They bought it on Amazon for around $20.
Like the other Melissa and Doug food playsets, it comes in an open top storage box. This wooden box is striped red and white and has a retro ice cream parlour look and feel to it. Inside it has compartments for 2 ice cream scoopers, 4 scoops of ice cream, and 2 cones. The cones look like your standard "cup" cone (think Keebler) but are made of a natural wood and are quite substantial to hold onto - they have a bit of weight to them. Inside the cones are magnets so that you can stack the ice cream scoops up on top.
The ice cream scoops are not made of wood, but are a heavy duty plastic which I did not realize when I had requested this for her. I've actually tried to move away from plastic play food and the majority of my daughter's play food and kitchen are wood. Still, they are extremely heavy duty and I do not see them breaking, cracking or getting crushed any time soon. The scoops have magnets inside them as well so that they stack easily atop the cone. In the set are 4 flavors: Chocolate, Vanilla, Strawberry and one that looks like Mint Chip.
The ice cream scoopers are also plastic and less sturdy than the rest of the pieces. They have a magnet in them so that you can pick up the scoop of ice cream and place it on the cone. This takes a bit of manipulation but my 4 year old mastered it pretty quickly.
This is a set that my daughter enjoys playing with by herself and also with friends or her brother. She loves to pretend to serve up the pretend ice cream and have ice cream parties. Sometimes she'll put the ice cream into her play food dishes and serve it that way too - but she prefers the cones.
When she is done playing she is able to put away the pieces into the storage box and put it away. As with her other sets, I do wish it had some type of a lid - but at least all the boxed Melissa and Doug sets do stack well for storage.
We are big fans of this Ice Cream Parlor set and it hasn't lost interest over the past year we have owned this toy. When she outgrows it, I am sure that I will be able to pass this set on. For any child who enjoys pretend play this set makes a welcome addition.
The suggested age is 3 and up, which seems on target. There are no small pieces but the scoop is a bit tricky to work and the heaviness of the cones and box could pose a danger for younger kids.
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