Quick and Easy Travel Play Kitchen

My kids love to use our play kitchen. However, I cannot take our play kitchen everywhere we go, and I saw a brilliant idea to make a travel play kitchen and thought it would be fun to modify their idea to make my own travel play kitchen using a plastic shoebox, and some mod podge. Hi! Future Ticia 2024 here, and I have to say my kids used this for years in their pretend play, and I think it might have even been used a few times with their cousins as part of their pretend play. It definitely got more play than the super expensive one we had.

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The inspiration for our travel play kitchen

I saw a super cute idea from Quirky Mama for making a play stove.

I LOVED this idea, especially since we wanted to get rid of the big huge Pottery Barn kitchen we had because all that really happened with it is the kids stored stuff in it.

However, I wanted to change it from her idea. Hers put the burners on the bottom of the bin, and I’m pretty sure if I made my travel play kitchen that way, they would dump EVERYTHING on the floor, and then play with it.

Of course, if I’m honest, they’ll still do that, but it won’t happen quite as fast.

Supplies to make a travel play kitchen

Required: plastic shoe boxes

• Version 1: Silhouette cutter, black construction paper, mod podge
• Version 1.5: scissors, black construction paper, mod podge
• Version 2: spider web stickers
• Version 3: black acrylic paint, paint brush

How to make a travel play kitchen

So, I got out my trusty Silhouette cutter and pulled up the spider web cutout I had (because I didn’t want to find paint and wait for it to dry, that would be MUCH HARDER).

You believe me right?

I cut out 3 of them and mod-podged them onto the lids.

It’s as simple as that, but let’s look at another way of putting this together:

If you don’t have a Silhouette cutter, then I would pick out several different-sized circles and trace around them to create a series of concentric circles. Then cut them out and glue them onto the box.

OR try this instead

Put the stickers I linked to on your shoebox lid for a super fast travel play kitchen.

Or as the final idea, grab your paintbrush and black acrylic paint, and paint your burners onto your play kitchen.

That’s three different ways to make a travel play kitchen in about five minutes (dry time may be a bit longer).

Setting up your travel play kitchen

I stuffed the shoe box full of blocks and little squares and erasers and all of the other miscellaneous stuff they use to cook.

That’s right my kids cook blocks in their pots and pans.

I’ve gotten them toy food, but they don’t really use it that much. Instead, they keep using these silly little squares and blocks and whatever they find. So, why buy that when they’ll just invent it?

Oooohhhh, this is a cool toy food set.

More pretend play and fun ideas

• Explorers Pretend Play
• Underground Railroad Simulation
• Rapunzel Wig