Family Fun on the Cheap

Affordable and creative ways to let the good times roll (including parents-only options).

Build a Mini Kitchen Out of Empty Boxes

Instead of paying $200 for a child-size gourmet kitchen, Joanne Fernando, an architect in New York City, made a sink and stove (with oven!) for her four-year-old daughter out of cardboard boxes, CDs, and hardware-store staples. Here are her tips.

• Cover the boxes with white contact paper to disguise the cardboard.
• Cut a hole in the top of one box and drop in a brownie pan for the sink. For a faucet, connect plastic piping with an elbow joint.
• Use blank CDs or the undersides of CDs that you don’t listen to anymore for the burners; put down black tape in an X shape for the grates.

To see other photos, go to ohdeedoh.com.