My kid has a load of cute plastic food that he loves to play with. He also has an adorable Curious George tea set. When I'm in the toy store I have to resist buying a cute little range and pot set to add to his little kitchen scenario. We just don't need more STUFF. And besides, isn't he going to grow out of it in a year or something? So, instead, I decided to challenge myself to make a stove from scraps found around the house. Five minutes of searching and this is what I found:
· Shoebox
· Coroplast, scrap
· Paper, for wrapping shoebox
· Electrician's Tape, white
· Marker, metallic silver
· Cutter and metal ruler for coroplast
And then 10 minutes to throw it together. This is what it turned out like.
It's not gorgeous but it's an old lesson learned, it's all in the imagination. He loves it and I found it an interesting exercise. How different would it be if I'd found different materials? Perhaps I could have made a 'stainless' stove with tin foil ...
The other thing that I found interesting is that the imaginary play went from "playing kitchen" to "playing restaurant" very quickly. He seated us. He took our orders. He told us the specials. He showed us where the loos were. Do you think we eat out too much?
And after all that, I still want to buy a mini pot and pan set. I can't help it. We'll see.