Review: Guidecraft Hideaway Country Kitchen

Last fall, we had the opportunity to review the Guidecraft All in One Play Kitchen and we loved it!  Of course it crossed our minds that not everyone would have enough room to house that kitchen and I think the same thing occurred to Guidecraft.  Their new Hideaway Country Kitchen is a room saver in more ways than one.

This new kitchen, which also comes in a pastel "Playtime" version, is a compact 30" wide and 15-1/4" deep.  What makes this kitchen unique is that it can be folded up flat by an adult and stored away in a closet or behind a piece of furniture.

The first thought that entered my mind when I found out that this kitchen folds is how safe is it?  After all, this is a heavy piece of furniture essentially.  It turns out that there is a bolt that keeps the kitchen locked in place so that no child will be able to accidentally start the fold-up process.  He or she would have to have access to the L-wrench and enough strength to turn the bolt.

This kitchen has many realistic features.  The clock has moving hands, the burners look like they have a stainless steel rim, the knobs for the stove and oven click as they are turned, and the oven door has a window.  The only complaint I have is that the two hooks are a little low.  We have a wide variety of cooking utensils and little oven mitts and none of them were small enough to hang on these hooks.

The sink also has turning knobs that are marked hot and cold and the faucet can turn, as well.  The dishwasher even has knobs that do not turn 360 degrees, but only as far as the two settings.

If you are planning on leaving this kitchen up all the time, then I highly recommend using the oven and dishwasher space for storage.  You could easily fit two bins or baskets inside to hold all the play food and cookware.  Then your child could pull these containers out when the kitchen is in use and then replace them when he or she is done.

The Hideaway Country Kitchen is a perfectly sized toy kitchen for preschoolers.  As you can see, it is an ideal height for our 4 year old son.  Our 7 year old son, however, is a bit tall for this kitchen, but that does not stop him from creating one delicious pretend creation after another.

You should expect to devote at least one hour to assembling this kitchen and be prepared to have one or two helping hands.  Like with most items that include hinges, it takes two people to keep the pieces at right angles while the hinges are being screwed into place.

To learn more about the Hideaway Country Kitchen and to view all the wonderful new Guidecraft products for 2011, visit Guidecraft.com, Guidecraft on Facebook, and on Twitter.

Thank you to Guidecraft for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon.

Play To Learn Diner Review: Break Schedule Time Activity (Free Printable)

Recently, we received the Guidecraft All in One Play Kitchen for our three children to experience. When I saw that this kitchen had a built-in clock with mobile hands, I knew it would be the perfect setting for the upcoming time addition activity I had planned. This activity is for children who already has the basics of telling time down and teaches them to work more comfortably with time (i.e. adding hours and minutes, translating what an analog clock says into digital time, etc . . . ).

To do this activity, you will need to print out the blank break schedule worksheet below and have a clock with hands that your child can move with his or her fingers. You can also have a dry erase board and dry erase markers or dry erase crayons on hand for an extra activity at the end, but this is optional.

TO PRINT: Click on image to enlarge. Then right-click on image and select print. Hit your browser's back button to return to this page.

After you have printed out the break schedule worksheet, fill in the 1st column with names of several people your child knows, including his or her own name. Then fill in the next four columns to create varying scenarios. The 2nd and 3rd columns are for when the employee is scheduled to arrive and leave work. The 4th column states how many hours the employee is scheduled to work. The 5th column states how long of a break that person should get that day. After 5 or 6 entries, you can start to leave the 5th column blank for your child to fill in. By the end of the activity, your child will likely be able to fill in all the columns.

Getting Started . . .

Explain to your child that he or she is the owner of the diner. In addition to cooking and serving food, the owner must make a break schedule that determines when each employee gets to take a break during their shift. To add a higher level of difficulty, you can tell your child that the breaks must not overlap with each other.

Examples of Questions I Asked . . .

If Jake works from 9am to 6pm, how many hours is he working? To help your child answer this, set the clock's hands to 9 o'clock. Then have your child count how many hours it takes to reach 6 0'clock and have your child verify that the number under the "Total Hours" column matches his or her answer.

If Jake gets a 1 hour break for working 9 hours, what time do you think he should take his break? Your child can choose any time within the shift for the most part. Have your child fill in the digital time in the column labeled "Begins".

If you want Jake to go on break at 12 o'clock and he gets a one hour break, what time should he come back from break? To help your child, set the clock's hands to 12 o'clock and ask your child to advance the hands one hour. Then have your child fill in the digital time in the column labeled "Ends".

After repeating the above exercises several times, if you feel your child is ready, try leaving the "Total Hours" column blank for your child to fill in. Then ask your child to fill in all the columns. He or she should be able to fill in the length of each break based on the previous entries in the break schedule. My son, who will be turning 7 in two months, very much enjoyed filling in the columns himself. This activity takes playing restaurant to a whole new level and helps him to see how math applies to real (and pretend) life situations. I also think he loved being "the boss".

For extra practice with writing words, numbers, and digital time . . .

Ask your child to write out the break schedule for all his or her employees to see on a dry erase board or on a blank piece of paper. You can vary what you ask your child to include. Since my son writes large, I only asked him to put the heading "Break Schedule", the employee name, and the time the employee should go on break. If your child writes smaller, you can also ask that he or she include the time the employee should come back from break or how long of a break that employee should receive.

**********************************************************************

More about the Guidecraft All in One Play Kitchen . . .

Although this kitchen has many parts, it probably only took an hour and a half for my husband to put together with a little help from me. If you are experienced with assembling RTA, then you should be able to build this alone aside from perhaps having someone hold the doors for you when attaching them. If you are not comfortable with assembling furniture, then having two people will help to speed things along. My husband was extremely impressed by how well the pieces were packed, as well as the sturdy construction. There were no problems with holes not lining up or doors not being square. The one thing that took us a long time was attaching all the hinges, since there were so many doors. The screws used to attach the hinges are tiny, so they are difficult to handle if you have larger hands.

Some of the features that I especially liked . . .

• The stove top is not just painted on, but rather it is a thick durable plastic that is screwed on.
• The faucet turns left and right just like on a real kitchen sink.
• The oven has a rack that pulls out just like in a real oven.
• This kitchen is attractive and the colors work for both girls and boys.
• The dry erase board is perfect for leaving messages for your children or for them to write out their pretend menus.
• This kitchen provides tons of hidden storage.
• This kitchen is large enough for all 3 children to play at once.
• This kitchen is tall, so it will provide many years of pretend play.

The only thing I would change about this kitchen is the size of the hooks on the back splash. They are very thick and none of our play utensils or pots and pans have holes large enough to hang properly on them.

One thing I want to point out is that, since we already had a kitchen in our play area, we ended up putting this kitchen in one of the bedrooms. Once I saw a toy kitchen online that was designed to also be a desk. This made me think, why not have this kitchen double as a dresser? I did not end up using it to house clothing, but I do have the right and middle bottom cabinets filled with toys. So, if you think you cannot find the room to add a toy kitchen such as this one, you could consider replacing an existing piece of furniture with the kitchen instead. The children are thrilled to have the kitchen to play with upstairs and I did not lose any storage space by adding it.

To learn more about this and other play kitchens, visit Guidecraft.com and Guidecraft on Facebook.

Thank you to Guidecraft for sending us a complimentary product sample to base this review upon.

Cooking Up Holiday Fun With Constructive Playthings' "Classic Wood Kitchen Set" Review & Giveaway [CLOSED]

One of the wonderful things about pretend play is that it does not require batteries . . . just imagination. This batter-free toy from Constructive Playthings is one of my favorites since I started this series. I love this Classic Wood Kitchen Set because it is well-made, provides an ample amount of hidden storage, and can entertain more than one child easily. If you have siblings on your holiday shopping list, then this toy kitchen would make an excellent gift for children in the same household to share.

Part of the reason I was so excited to review this play kitchen is because it is taller than our previous molded plastic kitchen. Our previous toy kitchen was a perfect height for a 3 year old, but far too short for our 6 year old. Even though the plastic kitchen cost slightly less money (though not much less), it was not a smart purchase because it was outgrown within one year.

It took approximately 45 minutes for my husband to assemble both pieces. He agreed that the construction was very sturdy and of high quality, although he did run into a few bumps in the road assembling the stove unit, such as some screw holes that were not deep enough and the Cam screws being slotted for a Flathead rather than a Phillips Head screwdriver. The assembly of the refrigerator had no issues at all.

Here is a video of our 3 children enjoying their Classic Wood Kitchen Set from Constructive Playthings:

This kitchen set truly fits the name "Classic". The beadboard styling and the clean white fits almost any decor. The painted on burners allow any size toy pots and pans to fit on the stovetop. Also, as our daughter demonstrated in the video, it can double as a griddle just like modern stovetops.

To add some realism to this set, the stove and oven knobs turn. The cabinet under the sink, the oven door, the freezer, and refrigerator doors all open and close. I think it is smart that, although its handle is at the top, the oven door opens sideways. On our previous toy kitchen, the oven door opened downwards, so it would never stay shut completely, and would sometimes fall open all on its own. I do wish that the sink faucet and the knobs turned. As you can see from the photos, the plastic sink basin is removable. This allows our children to clear the table and then carry the pretend dirtied dishes to the sink to wash.

We did have one problem with the cabinet and oven doors. Because the dividing wall is not rigid, when one door is pushed close, it pushes against the dividing wall, which causes the other door to get pushed open. The only way for both doors to be shut properly is to gently push them both closed at the same time until they both click. Luckily, this is a trick all 3 of our children eventually mastered.

As I had previously mentioned, this kitchen set offers quite a bit of hidden storage. I am so glad to be rid of the unsightly bins of pots, pans, dishes, and play foods. The refrigerator has an adjustable shelf. I wish the under-the-sink cabinet and the stove each had a shelf also. Most stoves do have shelves, so adding one with an oven rack painted on it would be realistic and would allow the children to bake more than one thing at once. I also want to point out that the oven is large enough to fit a real 9" x 9" baking pan.

I have to say that this toy is a winner! If you only want to purchase one kitchen set that will last your children from their toddler/preschool years until they outgrow pretend play, the Classic Wood Kitchen from Constructive Playthings is one to consider. If you cannot fit both the sink/stove unit and the refrigerator, each of the two pieces is also sold separately.

To learn more about this kitchen set or to find more great gifts for the Holidays, visit ConstPlay.com . You can request a free toy catalog or shop online. If you prefer to order through the website, remember to take advantage of your Exclusive Reader's Discount to save 15% off on toys at Constructive Playthings by shopping through the animated button on my sidebar.

Thank you to Constructive Playthings for sending us a sample toy free of charge to base this review upon and for providing a second toy for our contest prize.

What you can win:
One lucky reader will receive a Classic Wood Kitchen Set from Constructive Playthings (ARV $160). Kitchen accessories and play food not included.

Limitations:

This giveaway is open to U.S. & Canadian entries only. You do not need to be a blogger to enter, but you must have a valid email address and be age 18 years or older. If you enter anonymously and do not include a valid email address in your comment entries, I will not be able to notify you should you win this random drawing.

How to Gain Entries:

Visit www.ConstPlay.com by clicking the Constructive Playthings Button below and take a look around. Then leave a comment telling me what item a child in your life would love to receive for the Holidays (aside from the one reviewed in this article). Remember that by clicking this button you receive a 15% discount off your entire order. You MUST do this to be eligible to win this contest. You may complete this entry once daily until the end of the contest, provided that each item you choose is unique.

Extra Entries:

1) For 5 extra entries, leave a relevant comment on one of my non-giveaway posts. Then leave FIVE separate comments with the name of the post on which you commented. You will earn 5 extra entries for each different non-contest post you comment on.

2)

For 5 extra entries, enter one of my other contests. Leave FIVE separate comments here telling me which contest you entered. You will earn 5 extra entries for each contest you enter.

3) For 10 extra entries, sign up by email to receive the Constructive Playthings Email Specials. Then come back here and leave TEN separate comments telling me you did so. (If you use a different email to sign up than you are using to enter this contest, please include it in your entries. I will be verifying these entries.)

4)

For 1 extra entry each, if you are a Friend of mine on Facebook and/or if you have "liked" the 3 Garnets & 2 Sapphires Facebook page, then leave a separate comment here telling me so with the link to your Facebook profile.

5) For 1 extra entry each, follow Constructive Mom on Twitter and/or "Like" Constructive Playthings on Faceboook. Then leave a separate comment for each with the link to your Twitter or Facebook profile.

6)

Follow me on Twitter. Then leave a separate comment with the link to your Twitter profile.

7)

Tweet about this giveaway linking back to this post. Then come back here and leave the link to your tweet in a separate comment. You may do this once per day until the end of the contest.

8)

Subscribe to this blog's feed. Or you can follow me through Blogger or subscribe via email (widget is on sidebar). Then leave a separate comment telling me you did so.

9)

Subscribe to A Blog of Goodies' feed (the sister site to 3 Garnets & 2 Sapphires). Then leave a separate comment telling me you did so.

10)

Add my button or blog link to your blog's sidebar. Then leave a separate comment with the link to your blog.

<br /> <a href="http://www.3garnets2sapphires.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd206/Busymonkeez/Graphics4Me/NEWBlogButton125x125.jpg" /></a><br /><br />

(All entries will be verified prior to awarding this prize.)


Random Drawing:

This contest will be closed on Monday, October 4th, 2010 at 11:59pm EST. A random number drawing will be held shortly after. The winner will be announced here and will be contact via email or through their blog. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new number will be drawn.

Good luck in the drawing!