play kitchen OR outdoor house?

[mommariffic]

The Aunts and G-mas of the family are itching to get the kids something "bigger" as a combined summer birthday gift. 

I am thinking of asking for either a nice wooden play kitchen, or a nice wooden outdoor play house?

Which would you choose and what suggestions do you have? I've seen a few online but nothing that really stands out! 

[Coconut Chronicles]

If it was me I'd ask for the outdoor play house and make the play kitchen myself. But if you aren't handy/craft,  I will tell you that our play kitchen gets played with everyday as opposed to the outdoor toys. Here's a great thread that covers lots of play kitchens (both DIY and one's you can buy): CLICK

We have the Ikea play kitchen (both pieces) and the Plan Toys Fridge (the ice maker in the door is the coolest thing ever lol.)

I am not a big fan of the "gingerbread" style play kitchens and those two pieces fit our modern house better so that is why we went with them.

[mommariffic]

That thread is AMAZING, I want to hug you right now 

That's my concern - that the outdoor house won't get as much use. My thoughts are that DD can hide under a peach tree for a hideout, but on the other hand our yard now has NO SHADE -- besides that tiny peach tree (we live in the city) and a play house might be a nice retreat. 

[calynde]

We have both, but for sure our play kitchen gets WAY more play...from both my kids and other kids and for a rather large age span. I have been completely surprised by how very little they play in the garden house...i think they just prefer playing under an open sky.

[Bird Girl]

My kids have a playhouse--our converted shed--but they get more excited when I put our camping tent up on the lawn for them.

Of course, they also have a play kitchen--which lives in our playhouse--but when they choose to cook and set out play food, they generally ignore the kitchen and go straight to our bins of play food and their ceramic mini-dishes, most of which came from Ikea. We love the HABA wooden food--and it can get expensive to buy a lot of that--so you may want to encourage your family to think more about what will go IN the kitchen rather than the kitchen itself. My kids are 8 and 5 and still love their wooden play food, but the wooden kitchen definitely had a shorter lifespan.

Hope that helps!