Cool tools can make kitchen play irresistible to kids. Adding just a few new items to your kitchen that are right-sized for kids’ small hands and well-designed for developing coordination can make a huge difference in kitchen play safety and success.

When buying kid-friendly kitchen supplies, look for a few key features such as handles (especially two handles), non-slip bottoms, mini versions of standard tools, encased chopping blades and items designed for safety and ease-of-use.

Here are 20 such items that can help you create a fun, kid-friendly, kitchen:

• Kid-size fruit and veggie scrubbing brush
• Mini cookie cutters for shaping bread, cheese or fruit
• Small, easy-open containers for kid-size portions of nut butters, juices, milks, cheese, dried fruit and anything else your kids eat (which you transfer from larger containers to these manageable-size containers)
• Small serving tray with handles
• Kid-size butter spreader, which can be used to cut soft foods
• Two-handled apple slicer
• Two-handled banana slicer
• Cutting board with suction cups
• Rolling pin
• Easy-to-hold measuring cups and spoons
• Old-fashioned coffee grinder
• Kid-friendly vegetable peeler
• Interchangeable mini-grater and juicer with handle
• Self-enclosed nut and onion chopper
• Old-fashioned apple peeler and corer
• Countertop compost bucket with lid
• Kid-size apron
• Hand broom and dustpan
• Kid-size mop
• A safe step stool or (for a splurge) The Learning Tower

You probably noticed that some of the items listed are ones that help kids with cleanup after they’re done with food prep. This keeps mess at a minimum, which keeps us parents just as enthusiastic about kitchen play as our kids are!