Let's Cook!

My children really enjoy this book. They love to play "restaurant" with their pretend kitchen or when we're cooking dinner, and this brings that same sort of imaginative fun to reading time. They love to take our orders and then fill them and even enjoy putting the pieces back in the book. As another reviewer said, a few of the pieces are tricky to get back in - that's because the tomato slices and bagel slices are irregularly shaped (as they really would be if they were real), so you have to line them up correctly in order to fit them back in. When my children were 2, I had to help them with these pieces. By the time they were 4, they had no trouble. The other pieces (the frying pan, the bread slice, etc.) are not difficult to fit back in at all. I'd suggest definitely making "cleaning up the restaurant" by putting the pieces back into a part of the game every time - otherwise you'll end up with these puzzle pieces all over the place (been there, done that), and part of the charm of this book is that it's a puzzle, too, so it makes sense to have the kids work the puzzle. True, the foods represented aren't all the most healthy choices. Our family tries to eat lots of fruits and veggies and organic choices, but we didn't let that detract from the fun of this book. The kids still had a blast with it and to be fair, the ice cream sundae page at the end includes lots of fruit toppings. When we eat bacon, it's no-nitrate turkey bacon, so the kids just presume that the bacon in the book is the same kind. Lots of fun for kids 2-5.

My daughter loves this book. She likes to ask everyone in the house what they'd like to eat and then fries the egg, makes up the sandwich, etc. While I understand that the previous reviewer was disappointed with the lack of "proper nutrition", I feel the food choices are basic, simplified and fun. If I have any issue with the book, it is that the pieces can be difficult to fit back into their puzzle-like spaces. (The pictures need to be aligned exactly, or they won't fit back in.) Still, a very good purchase.

My 2-year old loves to cook and pretend to cook, and enjoys this unique book that involves cut-out photos of different foods and simple activities to do to pretend to cook and prepare food. The graphics are great and the board is sturdy. I am disappointed however that the author did not take the opportunity to teach good nutrition. The newest govt guidelines call for 4-5 servings of fruit and 4-5 servings of vegetables a day, for example. In the book, instead of presenting whole-grain bread, white bread and a bagel are presented. Bacon appears twice. Two vegetables are provided. Dessert is a 5-scoop ice cream sundae (although, granted there are four kinds of fruits associated with it, which is a plus!). Children begin to develop their lifelong palate at an early age. Unfortunately children are already bombarded with enough advertising for unhealthy foods, and this was an opportunity to present another option, not taken advantage of.