Maximizing Kids Toys: Creating A Kids DIY Veggie Stand From With A Puppet Theatre & Other Useful Things To Do With Magical Putty

You guys knows we’re DIY people (or I think you know anyway). I mean, I don’t post DIY’s everyday on this thing, but we surely do them at home all the time. Remember, why pay someone else to do it, when you can do it yourself, right? Right.Looking around the house I can usually spot a good handful of things I want to fix. Nothing that drives me nuts or anything (thankfully), but things that make me think, “I should maybe work on that.” It’s safe to say we all do this. Even Marlowe is constantly working her little mind grapes to figure out new things to fix or make. And as you guys probably know, we like to use what we have, and make it better. Sure, sometimes things get old or really, really break and they require an upgrade. Hell, sometimes you just want to upgrade, and that’s totally fine (TOTALLY fine!). But it’s good practice to take what you already have and just make it better. I mean, if you can, why not, right? It saves you more money and it creates less waste.

So Marlowe got this pretty cute puppet stand this past year. I don’t have the before-before photos, but we ended up painting it together so it could match her room a bit more. We also changed out the red curtain with an old dress to make a new curtain. (Don’t judge the sewing job, my kid helped me, I swear). We like her puppet stand a lot, but lately, Marlowe has been asking for a fruit and veggie stand (she saw it in a catalog. pro tip: never leave a kid catalog in your house). Well, there’s no way we could fit both a puppet theatre and a fruit stand in her room, so I thought, “I can make this happen, let’s multi-task this thing.” So we did, with Sugru.

So what’s Sugru? It’s basically moldable glue. It feels like a clay/play dough mixture and sticks to just about everything. But unlike clay or play dough it has a long term use because it turns to a strong, flexible rubber overnight— so you can use it for an endless amount of projects around your house, in your yard, in your car, in a box with a fox— you name it, you can most likely do it. Sugru let’s you take broken things or old things and fix them or update them. Basically, the easiest (and most fun) up-cycling tool of the century. Even more fun: it comes in a ton of colors— and if you want to get fancy, you can mix your own colors too.

A removable play shelf diy:

-on the back of the puppet theatre, make a line where you want the bottom of the shelf to sit. Halfway between the line and the top of your self, drill a screw securely into the wood. Repeat on opposite side.

-roll a few packs of Sugru together between your fingers into a ball (mixing a preferred color, if you’d like) until soft and ready to use. Place over nail and sculpt into a adorable little shelf. The nail will make the shelf extra secure and the Sugru will protect you and your kids from nail injuries. (hooray!)

-on the back bars of the puppet theatre, create a second shelf. Drill a small screw into back and repeat. I also put the Sugru around the entire wooden arm for extra security.
-wait 24 hours for your Sugru to dry completely and voila! You have a place to put your veggie filled shelf!