Tutorial: how to make a children's play stove

Well, hello lovely Planetarians*, all 194 of you (and a warm welcome to the newbies). I've been so pleasantly surprised at the level of affirmation you all gave me in response to my last post. Thanks for your kindness. I really didn't expect such a response. I guess I just have to back myself a bit more. I’m chuffed that you are enjoying the ride on this crazy planet. Now let me tell you what Mr PB and the older pixies have been up to recently – the Top Secret Project I mentioned here. Inspired by this post by the talented Steph a few months ago, Mr PB finally stopped ‘fobbing’ the pixies off (Miss India’s words!) and decided to make a stove for India’s birthday. Here it is! I think they did a spectacular job.

Let me show you how they made it. First stop was the Salvos where they found this:

1. An old drawer/cupboard $10

Then they stocked up on their supplies at the hardware store.

2. Paint $30 (four different colours chosen by the pixies – of course, pink appeared!)

The older pixies set to with their paintbrushes. Hmm, now I see why both of them ended up with paint on their clothes (one smock on back-to-front and the other, well, absent!).

They then decamped to my Dad’s workbench. Without the camera. So you’ll have to use your imagination here!

3. Piece of craft wood for the stove door and the hotplates $20

Mr PB cut out a rectangle of wood for the oven door.

4. Two hinges $5

He attached the door to the base of the oven using hinges.

5. Handle and latch $10

He screwed the handle onto the door from the inside and attached a latch. I’m struggling to explain this as I didn’t see him do it but hope this photo of the inside of the door may be self-explanatory.

6. Liquid nails $10

He cut out some small circles from the wood for hotplates and then liquid nailed them to the top of the stove.

He painted them with blackboard paint (we already had some) and added red circles to the centres for the ‘hot spots’.

7. Metal mixing bowl for sink $5

Mr PB placed the bowl upside down and traced around it on the spot where he wanted the sink. However, he couldn’t use this circle for cutting as given its exact size, the bowl would have fallen through it.

To solve that problem, he then drew a smaller concentric circle indented about 2cm inside the larger circle. Using a jigsaw, Mr PB then cut out the inner circle to make a hole for the sink bowl.

He then used Liquid Nails to affix the bowl into the hole, its outer rim now resting snugly on top of the stove.

If you have a drawer like ours, you’ll need to remove its back in order to pull it out. If you don’t, when you pull the drawer out, its back will bang into the sink bowl).

8. A set of taps and a spout $20 (we got lucky in the hardware store with some old ones)

Mr PB cut out small holes for the taps and the spout. He screwed the spout into a block of wood which he then screwed into the top of the stove, up the back. He then liquid nailed the taps into their holes.

9. 3 wooden knobs $5

He liquid nailed the knobs onto the drawer to act as temperature dials. We may replace these with some circular egg timers later.

10. Plastic chopping board $5

This was liquid nailed to the top of the stove.

11. Wooden craft decorations $5

These were painted and liquid nailed to the oven door.

12. Packet of hooks $5

The old cupboard had masonite pegboard sides. Mr PB inserted screws into the ready-made holes for hanging up utensils and oven mitts. My *contribution* here was to poke through all the holes with a metal skewer which had been painted over by the pixies!

I am so impressed at Mr PB’s handiwork. He had to completely make it up as he went, solving problems along the way. All the while, Joshua and India were buzzing around him, asking a hundred questions and wanting to help. I am so proud of the three of them. It took a lot of time and effort but the pixies are so delighted with the end result. It cost about a third of the versions in the shops and recycled something old.

And the best part? The look on Miss India’s face when it was unveiled on her birthday, complete with these utensils, oven mitts and saucepans. Just priceless. And all three pixies are enjoying using it. I think we’ll be ‘eating’ many a home-cooked meal from that oven for a long time yet!

*Hmm, what do you think? It’s growing on me…