A while ago, I salvaged an old burner grate and put it in our play kitchen, but I always wanted to mount it on a board and give it a knob. Today, I found an old wood scrap and then we got to work! We used bent nails to hold it in place, and screwed down a piece of an old dowel with a hole drilled in it for the knob. Ruben got to use the hammer and the hand drill, so he was thrilled. He used watercolor paints to make red flames, but when he saw me cooking on the blue gas flame of our real stove, he asked me to paint some blue on top of the red.
A play kitchen is a great thing to have in or near your real kitchen. The kids love to pretend cook when they are not participating in the real cooking. You don't need much, even just a low counter space or a box, or some floor space and some small real or toy pots, pans, utensils or dishes. Ours is an old piano bench in the laundry area between our real stove and the back door. I hung some hooks on the wall over it, and we've accumulated a lot of accessories over the years. Sometimes I think it would be fun to mount a faucet on the table or wall, or add a cupboard with a door on it. I still might, but already this area gets so much play just as it is.
Even without doors and knobs, there are all sorts of delicacies prepared here. Somebody made me some Apple-orange-radish pudding today, and did you notice the blue play dough pancakes going into the "oven" in the top picture?
i love this so much! i wish we had room in the kitchen for a tiny stove. i don't even have room for a trashcan. :(
ReplyDeleteand i was thinking, maybe instead of going all out with the cabinet doors and such, you could just do a fabric curtain that could slide open and closed... some pretty fabric to match your kitchen?
thanks for the pics!