Creative play chalk stove
Sebastian really loves helping out in the kitchen. He helps me stir vegetables on the stove and shakes in the seasoning. He has even shelled his own hard-boiled eggs. He also loves playing with pots & pans and our big wooden spoons. Play food and kitchenware seemed like a no-brainer, so we bought a couple of play sets from Ikea. Sebastian had fun with them, stacking the pots and “feeding” us banana and oranges, but he didn’t really take to them the way I’d anticipated. That is, until I picked up a piece of chalk and drew a set of burners onto a small table.
It was like a light switched on in his head from the moment I finished on the chalk. I wasn’t even sure that he would get it that they were supposed to be burners, but he caught on immediately. He played with his new “stove” for at least two hours on the first day and has played with it every day since. Proof that kids do not need the fanciest or most realistic toys!
We’ve been talking for awhile about building Sebastian a play stove soon and I’m definitely more inclined now that I’m sure it will get a lot of use. (Ikea has a play stove for around 100 bucks but it isn’t solid wood. Could have toxins, plus I’d rather upcycle!)
Have any of you put together a play stove for your wee ones, even just a shanty one like ours? What are your kids’ favorite ‘make-believe’ games?
© 2012
You are so creative! I love the chalk stovetop! I’m going to pin it, with a link back to your post.
So cute! You should get some chalkboard paint and maybe give him an entire chalkboard wall.
Hi,
I’m new to your blog
I did make my little girl a play kitchen when she was about your sons age, I guess that was 2 1/2 years ago, and we actually made it out of some cabinets we found at Habitat for Humanities resale store. We found a shorter one that worked perfectly for the stove and a taller one that worked for the fridge and then made felt burners for the stove and stuck em on with hot glue the end. And it was very inexpensive which is important to me.
It did get lots of play and then when she outgrew it it was still in great shape to freecycle.
BTW I am enjoying your blog, looks like one I will absorb in a few evenings
~R
Ooh felt is a good idea, and probably a lot more forgiving than painting on burners. I love that you did a fridge too. Sebastian is obsessed with our refrigerator; I’m sure he’d get a big kick out of having his own. Thanks for sharing!
I think that an entire wall of chalkboard paint would be really hard to paint over when we move! I actually don’t like chalk but it’s been easier to clean up than I expected. We bought chalk because he enjoyed it so much at a friend’s house. I am thinking about making a play kitchen and painting the entire back of it in chalkboard paint.
This is such an awesome, creative idea, Janine! I love it. We haven’t purchased a play stove/kitchen mostly because it just seemed to me like another piece of furniture, but seeing how much Sebastian loves it makes me think it might be worth the investment. We do try to make our real kitchen as accessible as possible, but it’s not *hers* and I’m sure that makes a big difference! I may have to look into kitchens when we move, and try your chalk idea in the meantime – so cool!
He digs the play stove at our friends’ house, and the one at IKEA, and the one at the kids consignment store… So I knew he would be into it.
He also loves our kitchen, and I really need to get a tower because lifting him up onto the counter every (millionth) time he asks each day is killing me! He wants to be in the kitchen even when nothing is happening in there.
I have to admit that I want to make an awesome play stove for ME as much as for Sebastian. It seems like such a fun project. And we want more kids so it would definitely be a worthwhile investment.