• Development of Social Skills - serving others, taking turns, sitting together

• Development of Language Skills - tea parties invite a lot of conversation

• Perspective Taking - this is an opportunity for your child to learn that not everyone wants the same things. For example, they want two cookies with their tea and you only want one, dad wants milk in his tea and your child wants milk and sugar, etc. If the tea party is happening with other children, the perspective-taking will happen naturally as the children interact.

• Fine Motor Skills - tea cups tend to be pretty small, inviting the child to use their pincer grasp to hold them

• Practical Life Skills - setting a table, pouring, drinking, eating, cleaning up

A Real or Pretend Tea Party?

Should you have a real or pretend tea party? Totally up to you. The pretend party is a little easier to set up and clean up. Plus, it has all the same benefits as above.

A real tea party can be a little more exciting and engaging.

Because children under three have difficulty distinguishing real from imaginary, they may not show much interest unless they can really drink and eat.

You can fill the cups with water, lemonade, or whatever beverage your child wants for the "tea". Check out the section below - "Additional Tea Party Activities" - for snack and drink recipes.

How to "Follow The Child" During Tea Parties

If this is the first time you're having a tea party, you can "host" but let your child contribute their ideas where they like.

For children three and older, with previous tea party experience, invite them to plan it. You can offer your assistance, so they know you’re there to help but otherwise let them take the lead.

Invite them to pick the location (on the floor, at a table, in the backyard) and type of snacks (pretend or real). If they like to dress up, you could ask them what the dress code is.

Additional Tea Party Activities

If you want to extend the fun and learning, you could add these activities too:

• Make real snacks ahead of time - bake together in the kitchen to make muffins or cookies or prepare little sandwiches. You could make this simple cookie recipe together: The Easiest Cookie Recipe To Make With Toddlers

• Prepare lemonade (or whatever beverage the child wants for the "tea") together. Our Visual Recipe Book has recipes for lemonade, as well as sandwich and other snack ideas.

• Play music in the background

• Dress-Up or Role Playing - pretend to be someone else, choose costumes or people your child can relate to, like a teacher, doctor or fire fighter. You can also pretend to be mom or dad, characters from books, animals, etc.

If you're looking to purchase a children's tea set, we have some here: https://themontessoriroom.com/collections/tea-sets