Coffee Time!

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When I think about my life priorities, they fall in this order: 1. God 2. Family and Friends 3. Coffee. In C’s 25 months of life, he’s picked up on that. Coffee (or Cokee) was probably one of his first 50 words. When C was 6 months old, my best friend bought him What Every Child Needs To Know About Coffee, and his love for coffee has only grown from there!
A few weeks ago, my best friend, C and I went to a fun little coffee shop in the town where we work. The have a great play nook for kids complete with...a kids coffee machine! C LOVED it (I think because it helped him feel like an adult), so we rushed to the store and found him one of his very own ...


                                                        

This has been one of his favorite toys of the past month! I LOVE Melissa and Doug toys. They are great quality and so colorful and engaging for young children. There are so many learning opportunities with this fun toy! To name a few…
  1. Sequencing
First you get your cup, then you put in the pod, after that choose the size you want, push the start button and you finally have your cup of coffee!

Children thrive off of routines… it is the way that they cognitively begin to understand the world around them from a very early age. As we get older, the ability to plan and sequence is not only an important language skill, but executive functioning skill that we use in organizing and planning our daily lives. Talking through simple routines and using transition words helps for children to learn to express themselves in a way that listeners can understand. It also aids in early story retelling skills.
  1. Describing
Hot, cold, iced, black, sweet, full, empty
Once children start to pick up language, we want to increase the number and types of words that they know. Using simple adjectives to build up their words or phrases is a helpful way to model that next step for them. When your child brings you something, like a cup of coffee in this set, and says “coffee,” you can reply back “hot coffee” or “yummy coffee” or “sweet coffee.” Before you know it, your child will be saying 2-word phrases and you can build up to 3!
  1. Learning to Order at a Restaurant
This cute Melissa and Doug coffee set comes with a fun little ordering card where you can choose your size, flavor, hot or iced and cream/sugar in your coffee. We started off asking C what he wanted and modeling what he might choose. Now he will ask us at home. The coolest part has been watching him when we go out to eat at restaurants now… when the waiter comes over to ask for our drink orders, C understands what he’s asking and is able to say “I want water, please.” The waiters don’t always understand him (water still sounds like wawuh), but we are so proud that he has learned! Modeling and pretending with this little set at home has definitely helped him grow in this area!
  1. Pretend Play/Conversational Skills
One of my favorite past times (that C has definitely observed) is catching up with friends over coffee. C has picked up on this, so with his coffee set, he loves to make coffee for either mommy or daddy and invite us to sit at his little table with him while we drink it. This is a great opportunity for us to model conversational turn-taking skills. We will practice asking questions and then pausing to wait for him to respond. You can then practice giving a comment and, again, waiting for your child to respond. After just a few turns, your child will pick up on the routine of conversational turn taking… something he or she can use for the rest of their life!

I hope that you enjoy this fun little coffee toy! What other Melissa and Doug toys do you like? I hope to review some more of their products soon!

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