Ladybug's 2nd birthday present: TV unit to kitchen conversion!

Soooo how better to launch myself back into the blogging world than to tell you about our very cute TV unit to kids play kitchen conversion! 

...Yes, yes, I know, you can buy these things at the shop without all the effort BUT where is the fun in that? 

We decided to do an upcycle for several reasons: 

-To recycle some furniture which lets face it, will never be used again (hello flat screen TV's)

-To not support supermarket giants and mass production of plastic toys

-To create something unique and from the heart for my daughters birthday

-To save money (in total we spent $60 on bits and pieces) and to create something of more neutral colours which will blend in well with our lounge room (considering it will probably sit here for the next few years!) 

-To utilise some of this creativity inside me which I love using 

So, to kick things off I put out a plea on Facebook for an unused TV unit and we ended up with this

 Perfect! It was exactly what I was after and the colour meant that we didn't need to sand/polish/paint anything :-) it was even on wheels which made moving it around much easier! 

Next I gathered all the items I needed and organised for my daughter to be looked after one Sunday so  Mr Ladybug and I could do the project all in one go without her seeing (thanks Uncle Ben!) 

Mr Ladybug removed the glass door on the left and began sizing the laminate chipboard for the fridge 

I painted the wooden coasters and knobs for the cooktop 

After that I painted the oven 

And my husband started on the sink 

Mr Ladybug attached the hinges and the door handles

Meanwhile I covered the backing in wrapping paper and then clear contact. Sorry no pics here as it was very fiddly to try to make sure there were no bubbles or creases, but I'm sure you get the idea. Just like contacting books, only bigger! 

We then nailed the backing to the kitchen and were ready for the finishing touches! As finishing decorations I created a little window with curtains by putting a scenery photo in a wooden frame and then adding some curtains (a cut up blue $2 shirt, bunched together with ribbons) which I secured to the backing with some Velcro strips, stuck some animal wall decal stickers on the front and right hand side and used foam alphabet stickers on the fridge to make it look more 'fridgey' I decided on 'Yum', 'Bah bah', 'Oishii' and 'Delisciouso' which all mean yum in assorted languages (English, Farsi, Japanese and Spanish) 

Want to see the finished product?

Ladybug loves it! :-)

What I bought extra: 

- 1 piece of MDF board for backing

- 1 piece of white laminate chipboard for the fridge door 

- 2 door handles for oven and fridge

- 4 wooden coasters for cooktops 

- 4 wooden knobs for cooktop 

- 2 magnetic clips for door closure on oven and fridge 

- 4 new hinges for fridge and oven doors

- Wrapping paper for backing 

- Photo frame for the window

- Cheap t shirt for curtains (fabric would be cheap too but I wasn't near any fabric stores!) 

- Wall decal stickers to decorate 

What I already had at home or was given to us: 

- Unused TV unit! (thank you Mr & Mrs W) 

- Silver spray paint for the oven 

- Black paint for the oven and cooktop

- Silver salad bowl for the sink

- Silver tap (thank you Mr H) 

- Pretty photo for the scenery (thanks Mum & Dad) 

- Wooden placemat used for cooktop 

- Clear contact to protect the backing 

- Ribbon to tie the curtains 

- Foam letters to decorate the fridge 

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Sticky wall

The girls love this craft and it's a good way to use up all of those odds and ends you might have lying around from past craft activities.

All you need is some contact (preferably clear, but atleast transparent!), Blutak, scissors and an assortment of craft items (cotton balls, buttons, sequins, paper cut outs, pom poms, feathers, paddle pop sticks, etc)

   

Cut the contact into large squares, and Blutak it (sticky side out) to the wall within your child's reach. Peel off the paper backing and let them decorate it with the odds and ends you have available.

I always talk to the girls and ask them questions about what sort of items they're using (for example "What colour is the circle?", "The feather feels soft", "Can you find a triangle?") and I really find this sort of interaction helps out in other situations too. Ladybug is very descriptive and relates things she encounters with things she has experienced before - during this particular activity she learnt what a 'love heart' was and now points them out to us all the time!

       

   
Once your child has finished place another square of contact on top of the masterpiece to preserve all the little pieces and to keep everything else sticking to it!

 

 

Ladybug and Petal enjoy this activity which seems to be different every time depending on what we have handy around the house. Interestingly, Petal (4) uses this activity to make a picture whereas Ladybug (23mnths) uses this activity to match up the similar items she can find in the container.

     

When the weather is nice we sometimes do this activity on the other the outside of the house and the girls find things in the backyard to stick on the contact (leaves, twigs, grass, dirt, seeds, etc - they like to see what will stick) rather than ones I provide.

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Worms!

One of our latest projects in the Ladybug household is our worm farm. In preparation for the greenhouse we will soon be getting we wanted to prep our current plants and soil and a worm farm seemed like the best option for us.

We got our set up from Bunnings, but I have also seen tutorials on how to make your own from old bath tubs or styrofoam boxes. The farms are so simple to start up and maintain and Ladybug REALLY enjoys being involved.

     

Her first worm experience was when we added the 2000 compost worms to the farm and now she asks about them every few days. We also hired a book 'Worms: The Mechanic of Organics' from the library to help her understand. She loves reading and wanted to read it again and again again!

      

We have a bin in our kitchen purely for kitchen scraps now and Ladybug knows that bin is for her beloved "woms" and comes with us whenever we take a bowl out to feed them. Worms will happily eat fruit and veggie scraps, egg shells, cardboard and cotton. They don't like meat, dairy, onion, garlic, chilli or citrus.

   

So, why have a worm farm?

Worm 'wee' and poop is one of the best things you can use to fertilise your garden and keep your soil full of nutrients. Every week our worms gives us a bucket of liquid fertiliser and every few months we'll get a tray of solids which can be used to mix through the soil. Mr Ladybug and I like to grow as much of our own fruit, veggies and herbs as we can so aren't really keen on covering our plants with chemicals. Now hopefully, with the help of our worms we can say bye, bye to synthetic fertilisers!

     

How to find out more?

Here in Sydney, Australia some councils offer free worm farms or compost bins as a part of The Compost Revolution <--- Click here to find out if your council is involved

There is a lot of worm information out there if you do a Google or YouTube search. If you're interested try one of these websites: Worm Farmer , Tumbleweed

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DIY rain stick

One of Ladybugs favourite things to play with in music class are the rain sticks. It's funny cause we have most of the other percussion instruments still from my Kindergym days, but no rain stick!

No worries, these things are easy peasy to make. All you need is a postal tube, some aluminium foil and some rice (and maybe some super glue to secure the ends on if you have a curious little one!)

You can decorate the postal tube however you like - we have a stack of pre-painted blue and pink ones but you could decorate them with paint, stickers, glitter, etc

Roll out a big length of aluminium foil then scrunch it up into a long sausage shape.

Then twirl it around into a spiral as you push it into the inside of the postal tube, insuring that the foil goes from end to end.

Pour in some dry rice (we used about 1/2 cup)

Place both ends back on the postal tube. Use some super glue around the edges if you are worried about escaping rice (or poured out rice ;-)

To create a 'rain sound' just hold the tube vertical and listen as the rice tumbles down through the aluminium foil.

Ladybug loves having her very own rain stick now.

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Chalk outlines

Well this post is so self explanatory, it doesn't even need words ;-)

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