Building A Children's Kitchen

One way to encourage kids to get creative is to build them a children's kitchen. By this it does not mean some plastic plates on a dinky table and some left over plastic pitchers and malformed plastic utensils. A real neat children's kitchen is a faithful reproduction of an actual kitchen but it is scaled down for kids use. Think of it as a working kitchen (minus the gas lines and electricity) that can stimulate kids creative juices and prepare them for real world skills.

If you have some extra cash lying around and think you can hack some crafting work, then you can easily manage to build your kids a children's kitchen.

Most children's kitchens are made out of wood however if this a big issue as far as budget is concerned you can use simple but sturdy cardboard boxes instead.

Here are the main steps:

Step one: Take the flaps of the cardboard box and glue them together against the main box sections so that they don't stick out. Let the glue dry and make sure that the surfaces are smooth.

Step two: Use any pencil to draw four knobs of a gas burner on the top of the first box. Then draw up to four more somewhere above the burners as well as a oven door on the lower frontal part of the box. Use your imagination as to where the oven door might be.

Step three: Take a large bowl then use it to trace its shape on the top of another cardboard box and sketch two or more knobs or a faucet spout. Then take any box cutter and cut the sketch out. You can use a scissor but a box cutter would be advised.

Step four: Gather some paint to use on the over of the cardboard box. Be sure to paint all the sides wit the same color. Allow it to dry before continuing.

Step five: For the outlines or traces, you can use crafting paint. Let dry before continuing. If you want to be creative you can color the surface to reflect as if a real life oven was in the process of baking something.

Step six: Permanent markers come in handy when you want to fine detail other items on the surface like numbers for the knobs, setting displays and more. Feel free to use different colors but make sure that it should closely resemble an actual oven or kitchen equipment.

Step seven: Use a small piece of wire or a set hook to be placed at the side of the oven or box so that the kids may hang their aprons on it when they stop for the day.

Step eight: Always think of the small details. They mean a lot for the kids.

Building a children's kitchen isn't that hard. All it needs is some creativity and a lot of patience. Ask a friend over to help and be the same person to help them build their own children's kitchen!

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