Why are children so fascinated with the home corner?
They are rehearsing for real life. They are trying to make sense of their world.
Your child sees you in the kitchen, preparing food, washing up and hosting celebrations.
You, the significant adult, must be doing something important, so your child instinctively copies.
Re-enact the day's events
It can take time to process what happened in a day. Sometimes we revisit events in our minds to make sense of them.
Children have the same impulse but they prefer to act things out. The birthday party, the unexpected guest, the spilt coffee - these are all events worth of exploration.
Not just a play kitchen
A kitchen can be many things. A shop, a cafe or the control room of a space ship.
As your child grows, so too does her capacity for pretend play. The home corner becomes a space dedicated to the imagination. Games that were once centred on the everyday now encompass fantasy worlds and possible futures.