Kitchen Set “Browning” Skillet

When I was a young child, I spent hours on end playing in my kitchen set. I would make every food imaginable. While most of the toys in the kitchen set were just plastic and didn’t change from their one shape or color, I was fascinated by the few things I had that were more engaging. For example, vegetables that had pieces velcroed together so I could cut them, a blender that turned on, and things that stuck together magnetically. I came up with the idea for this skillet because I think that children would love to have a more interactive and interesting way to actually “cook” food.

The main concept behind this toy is similar to those drawing boards that when a special pen is dragged across the surface, it brings magnetic dust to the top and makes it look like the pen is writing. When the child puts the fake food in the skillet, and turns it on, it would activate the magnets inside and pull the magnetic powder inside to food to the surface. As the child flips the food around, it will look as though the pieces of food have cooked and been browned in the skillet. In order to reverse the process, there would either be a button on the food pieces to release the powder or the child could simply shake it to release the powder from the surface- I’m not entirely sure how that part would work.

This toy would be plastic, just like any other toy for a kitchen set. However, the inside would contain the mechanisms for the browning technology described above. This toy would be safe for children 5 and up, since some food pieces could be relatively small.