Cafe Games for Kids

Pretend cafe and wait-staff games offer kids the opportunity to practice hospitality skills and test one's ability to service "customers" in a timely and satisfactory manner. Kids can play online cafe games that not only provide entertainment, but also let kids sharpen skills they may need for future jobs, cafe-related or otherwise. There are also non-online games that involve props and role playing.

'Amelie's Cafe'

"Amelie's Cafe" is available at the Alawar Games site as a free trial download for various Windows systems, and features Amelie running her grandfather's cafe while he's away. Players work as a cafe manager and food server, taking customer orders, relaying the orders to cooks and serving the food in a timely manner before impatient customers leave. In addition to waitressing duties, players must keep the food stations clean, sell donuts to customers, and perform other tasks.

'Cafe Waitress'

Customer satisfaction earns players maximum points when playing "Cafe Waitress," accessible at the girlGames4u site. The menu across the bottom of the screen shows the cafe's five tables, so players can keep track of each table's order and see if a customer needs service. After taking an order, players click the chef square at the bottom of the screen to walk to the kitchen area, where they place and pick up orders, and dispose of dirty dishes and waste. Players click the back door to get a worker to perform various tasks, including cleaning dishes and emptying the recycle bin. Customers walk out if they wait too long. The game ends after three customers walk out of the cafe.

'Jessica's Cupcake Cafe'

Jessica lends her cupcake expertise to her aunt's small bakery after a large bakery chain threatens to force it out of business in "Jessica's Cupcake Cafe," available as a free trial download at the GameHouse site for the Windows Vista/XP and Mac OS X systems. Players design cupcakes and upgrade the cafe in efforts to increase business and customer satisfaction. The game, also available as a ValuSoft PC CD-ROM game, has more than 40 levels of play.

'Winter Bistro'

Sandy Claus must serve customers in a timely manner and reach monetary goals for each round in the "Winter Bistro" kids' cafe game, accessible at the RainbowDressupsite. Customers who wait too long for service end up leaving in a huff, costing players five points for each walk-out. Players track a table's order status by checking the menu across the bottom of the screen. If players flub an order, they lose two points and dispose of the order in the waste disposal. When customers leave, players collect the money and place dirty dishes in the dish bin.

'Sweetheart Cafe'

In the only non-online game on the list, this role-playing game has kids take turns playing customers and wait staff. Alex Toys' "Sweetheart Cafe," was recipient of The National Parenting Center's "Seal of Approval" in Fall 2009. The set, recommended for ages 3 and up, includes 40 pieces of essential cafe items, such as an apron, hat, guest check pad, pencils, menus, napkins, place mats, cups, plate, eating utensils and plastic food. As with real cafes, players should have tables and chairs to seat customers upon arrival. When playing a member of the wait staff, players hand menus to the customers and writes their order down on the pad, after which the waiter/waitress (who pulls double duty as the "cook") prepares the food, puts it on the plates and serves to the customers. The "Sweetheart Cafe" set also includes "credit cards" for customers to pay for their meals. Players also could use real or fake coins to pay for meals and to leave tips for their server.