Babies & ToddlersKidsPre-School
Make a DIY kitchen playset for kids out of a cardboard boxes
Does your child enjoy spending time with you in the kitchen? Why not make them their own kitchen out of recycled cardboard boxes?
Are you looking for something fun to do with your child this weekend? Your little chef will love making this DIY kitchen playset out of cardboard boxes.
What you need
- Different sizes of cardboard boxes (the larger, the better)
- Marker
- Water-based paint primer
- Acrylic paint
- Paintbrushes
- Scissors
- Craft knife
- Coloured duct tape
- Two old CDs (for stove burners)
- Hangers or hooks with double-sided tape
- A liquid soap dispenser pump
- Old cutlery and crockery
- Old plastic or metal bowl
- Thin plywood
- Juice and soda bottle caps
- Hot glue gun & glue sticks
How to make it
- Before you cover your boxes with contact paper, select which side will be the front and the rear, as well as where your under-sink, refrigerator and oven door openings will be. Arrange the boxes beforehand to see where each box needs to go.
- Use contact paper to cover your boxes. After you’ve finished covering, start cutting your doors and drawer openings. The doors should open smoothly. It helps to bend the cardboard so that the doors can swing open and shut. Apply coloured duct tape on all the edges and anywhere you make cuts for the doors and drawers.
- To make the kitchen sink, cut a small hole in the top of one of the larger boxes and insert the liquid soap pump dispenser into the hole.
- Trace around a bowl and cut out a circle for the sink. A wide rim bowl works best as the rim will fit more snug on the cardboard cutout. Put glue around the bowl rim and position the bowl into the hole. Remember to apply the glue on the rim rather than the box.
- Use a thin piece of plywood for a cutting board, and glue it a few centimetres away from the sink.
- For the stove burners, use CDs. Glue them to the stove’s top. Make the stove handles out of bent cardboard wrapped in tinfoil and glue them to the oven. Use juice and soda bottle caps for the oven knobs. You will need a glue gun to secure these caps in place, as craft glue likely won’t hold.
- Attach two hooks to the side of the oven to hold dish towels.
- Help your child paint the kitchen in their favourite colours. Remember that while contact paper can be painted over, an appropriate primer must be used first. We recommend that you use a water-based primer, available at any hardware or paint store, before painting over with acrylic paint.
