My 2 1/2 year old granddaughter that lives with us has a play house in the backyard, and she loves to play in it. She pretends she is cooking and brings us imaginary dishes with imaginary food on them. I can't claim credit for this idea as I saw it on Pinterest, but today I made her a play stove for outside in the play house. It is the shoe box size plastic container. I had the idea to add knobs for her to turn. I bought a package of 2 small, unpainted wood knobs that I painted pink. My husband advised me to have metal washers on the inside and outside,and I had to buy shorter screws than what was in the package. He drilled 2 holes for me with his drill. I left the screws loose enough so the knobs will turn. The dishes are all inexpensive plastic, and they store inside the box, If I had been thinking I might have looked to see if there was a solid bottom box that didn't show the dishes. Then again, I did want a box this narrow so it can fit on the little ledge in the playhouse without falling off, and this was the only kind available in this size.
The little one hasn't seen it yet, but she has a good imagination and I think she will have fun with this. I did look for a little plastic sink and stove combination instead, but they took up too much room, and I wanted there to be space for the little one and her friends to play.
The burners were put on with permanent marker, by the way. I cut some cardstock the size I wanted and then traced around it. Then I folded the square in half to use as a guide to draw the lines inside the burner, leaving space in the middle.
This was made to stay in the play house and be weather proof.
