Play Room Tour - Shop Corner

Since moving from our apartment to our house over a year ago we have a lot more space to spread out in. One area we wanted to make as big as possible was a play room for the girls which would also double as a therapy room for us to work in. The house itself isn't big but the front section is a combined lounge and dining room and since we eat in the kitchen and don't watch much TV we decided to make the whole area one large play space.

Creating the play room has been a long process as we were working with a (very!) tight budget and everything had to be sourced through auctions/garage sales or made by hand. Finally though it is starting to come together and the girls spend a majority of their time in here when we are at home.

There are a few different 'play zones' within the play room so I thought I would do a post on each area rather than the room as a whole. This corner has been made into a pretend 'Corner Shop' where the girls can explore all kinds of imaginary play. It is one of their favourite areas, especially when they have friends over.

The kitchen and shop play corner.

See THIS POST for how to make a play oven.

The shop canopy is a MYSIG bed canopy from IKEA, $15.

The shopping trollies and drawer storage unit were from Ebay.

The small benches are RAST bedside tables from IKEA, $15. 

The girls like to change the type of shop it is regularly, and often it becomes a doctors office or school!

The sign board is just a cheap canvas painted with blackboard paint.

The scales were re-purposed from our kitchen as they weren't in use, and the wooden microwave was bought from a closing down Kindy sale (it came free with the wooden play sink).

Playing shops has taught them so many skills, not only building on their imaginary play but also important living skills (shopping, using lists, paying for things at a shop) as well as currency denominations and turn taking. We've had to work hard on turn taking! :D