This activity is inspired by an old book of mine, The Brownie Cookbook, which tells you how to make a teddy’s tea party. I shared this book with my girls and they were very keen to make the food.

If you are interested in the book it is out of print but you can buy it second-hand (opens in a new tab)” href=”https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brownie-Cook-Book-Knight-Books/dp/0340191120/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=brownie+cook-book+verily+anderson&qid=1559115179&s=books&sr=1-1″ target=”_blank”>–>

We spent an hour together in the kitchen preparing all the delicious treats for the party and then we went outside for our picnic. As this point I stepped back and watched from a distance as they enjoyed sharing the food between the assembled toys. Afterwards they played party games and ran around the garden.

The food we prepared was inspired by the book’s recipes, with the addition of some vegetables and jam tarts. The food can be changed to whatever is suitable to your life – however the key element is to make it all teeny-tiny so to add to the magical element of the party food.

My girls were very excited to be allowed to eat and drink off their dolls’ tea set – we even filled the teapot up with some blackcurrent cordial.

Once they had eaten we lit the candle on the cake and sang happy birthday to the baby doll. The cake was very difficult to cut being made from two slices of bread!

The play extended with party games including ‘hide and seek’ and ‘Simon says’, playing on the garden swing and climbing the apple tree until the rain came down and we had to bring everything inside!

I hope this has inspired you to use the time you share together in the kitchen as a way to encourage your child to play with their doll! Find out why dolls are so important for childhood development here —>