Pumpkin Spice Café

from 26 months · 20-30 min · Everyday helper

What you need

Set up a café on a tray on the floor with the jug, the cups, the spoon and the cinnamon.
Be the first customer and ask for a pumpkin spice latte, please.
Let them pour the brown water into a cup, stir it and sprinkle a pinch of cinnamon on top.
Pay with a pretend coin, take a pretend sip and say how warm and spicy it is.
Swap over so you run the café and they order from you.

Pouring from a jug is a real kitchen skill, and running a café lets them copy something they have watched grown-ups do many times.

Pouring: Tipping the jug slowly and stopping before the cup overflows takes a steady hand.
Taking turns: Being the café and then the customer is back and forth play with clear turns.
Pretend play: Acting out a café visit lets them try out the words and manners they hear when you go out.

Listen for the words they use when they serve you. Copying what they have heard in real cafés is part of the fun.

Keep the water lukewarm and pour it into the jug yourself first. Put the tray on a wipe-clean mat to catch the spills.

Easier: pour only a little water into the jug so it is light and easy to tip

Harder: bring a teddy as a second customer and let them take both orders