Melissa & DougCutting Food Play Food Set With Wooden Pieces, Knife, Cutting Board

This is our second set of play food we have ordered from Melissa & Doug that can be “cut” and connects back together. Our son loved the first set so much we had to buy more. The Velcro lasts well and is easy to reattach. It helps teach fine motor skills & is a safe environment for kids to “help cook”. Provides a long time of entertainment! Bonus that it fits well in our play kitchen.

I ordered this for my 2.5 year old daughter who is VERY curious about the kitchen, cooking, etc. She has a play kitchen and tons of plastic "play food", however, I have found that she loses interest in them quickly overall (the play kitchen keeps her attention longer if/when we allow her to use real water in the pots and non-draining sink...). If this sounds like your child, read on!The Melissa & Doug Cutting Food set has been a total A+!! It does actually make a crunch sound when she cuts because of the Velcro between the slices which she seems to really enjoy. I am always leery of buying sets with so many pieces because she just doesn't seem to want to use them for their intended purpose, or the sets don't appeal to her. That is NOT the case with this set!! She loves it for what it is! The pieces have a nice weight because they are constructed from wood. It comes with a wooden knife that has a realistic shape that's rounded at the bottom just enough that it doesn't seem that it would cause damage or scratching if it is used on surfaces other than the cutting board it comes with.My 9 year old son even likes the set! He also likes using them to practice chopping and cutting (he started learning how to make basic recipes in the real kitchen a year ago). But, the thing he really enjoys about it, in his words, "using it to do factions"! It gives him a nice visual for what a 1/4 means when he can chop the pepper into quarters and he now understands reducing basic fractions because of this set - when he chops the pepper or watermelon in half, he started by calling one of the halves 2/4, but visually it made sense to him that 2/4 is also 1/2!If your child or children are in a Montessori School or Daycare, I highly recommend purchasing this set - they will love it! It is great for building and practicing practical life skills. It comes in its own wooden tray (the tray does not have handles, but it is an appropriate size and has ample sides to keep the items from spilling out) making clean up and storage easy for even the youngest kids.I saw in some of the reviews that people complained about the smell - there was no chemical or paint smell to ours, it only has a slight wood smell. My best guess is that Melissa & Doug changed the products that they use on it since those reviews were written. The Velcro seems very good, although we'll see how it will hold up to multiple kids over several years. You could probably replace the Velcro with some effort, if it is needed - but I don't know that it would be the easiest job.

As with all Melissa and Doug play products this is a nice quality set. Saw this on Miss Rachel and had to get it for my grandkids. They love it. Great for imagination and exposes them to all the good nutritious foods.

Very good quality. Some are easy to cut some are difficult, making it a learning process for my one and a half year old

I bought this Melissa & Doug Cutting Food Box Set as a birthday present for my 2-year-old niece, along with the Melissa & Doug Slice and Bake Cookie Set and the Sushi Set. What a hit!! She loved them all, but this set was by far the favorite. Both my niece and her 4-year-old brother spent hours playing with it. It didn't take them long to get the hang of it, and they had tons of fun "slicing" up the food--we couldn't put the pieces back together fast enough! It's a fun toy for grown ups and kiddos to play with together, too. We made sandwiches, counted pieces, matched colors, named food items, and puzzled out how to put the pieces back together. I can see endless possibilities for creative and educational play!I noticed that there were a few pieces of loose velcro on the cookie and sushi sets, but so far this set seems to be holding up just fine. I did notice that the red paint was already rubbing off on the knife a bit, though. Not a big enough issue to take away from the fun of this toy. If you can't decide which Melissa & Doug play set to buy first.....buy this one! I'll definitely be buying more for my niece and nephew in the future.