Building a Toy Wood-Burning Stove

One of the greatest gifts of homeschooling is the space it allows for deep, meaningful problem-solving to unfold naturally. Sometimes those moments come neatly packaged in a lesson plan, and sometimes they emerge unexpectedly—right in the middle of play, curiosity, and hands-on work. This week just showed me what one boy can create when left to his own devices. This post will show you how Thomas went about building a toy wood-burning stove.

Catch Up! If you haven’t read all about our first week on the prairie, I would encourage you to go and read my Little House in the Big woods post. This covers everything we did from making nightdresses, to prairie cooking and making button strings. It also gives you a good idea of everything we achieved with our own little house on the prairie renovations!

Ingenuity, Engineering, and Imaginative Play in a By the Shores of Silver Lake Homeschool Lesson: Thomas Building a Toy Wood-Burning Stove

While basket weaving was underway, Thomas quietly embarked on his own ambitious engineering project: transforming a broken wooden box into a functional stove for our Little House. What began as a discarded item soon became a powerful lesson in perseverance, design thinking, and historical connection.

Check out week two! Last week we focused on Farmer Boy. This is the second book in the Little House on the Prairie book set. During the week we did lots of prairie cooking (hasty pudding, making a sour dough starter and some prairie bread) and also made some button lamps, a prairie ladder, and some peg hooks. Gary and the little ones did some gardening in our prairie garden and we tried to make some more of our rag rug.

From Broken Box to Prairie Stove

The original box had damaged hinges, but Thomas saw opportunity rather than a flaw. He turned the box on its side, refitted the lid as a front-opening door with new hinges, and added a wooden block handle. He also installed a magnetic fastening to keep the door securely shut, drawing inspiration from real-world mechanical solutions. I did point out that magnets did not commonly appear in domestic prairie appliances, but Thomas researched the idea and discovered that people used magnets at the time in compasses and medical equipment. Since magnets already existed, he felt their use in a household object stayed within the realm of possibility.

To make the stove practical, he raised it on four feet so the door could open freely. He repurposed an existing hole in the box as a “temperature control,” copying the airflow adjustments found on real cast-iron stoves on the prairie.

Finishing the Stove

Later in the week, Thomas set about finishing the stove. He painted, drilled, painted again, and drilled some more until his vision came fully to life. Afterwards, he transformed a chunk of an old railway sleeper from the garden and a thinner piece of timber into the stove’s flue, then coated everything in black paint—twice—to ensure durability and authenticity.

Next, he created the stovetop from a slate drinks coaster and positioned it at the front, placing a metal container on top to act as a saucepan. After he securely screwed the stove into the corner of our Little House, we stacked chopped wood on either side—wood he had split himself weeks earlier.

The result? A beautiful, sturdy stove with enormous potential for imaginative role-play, complete with a top stove and oven. It’s already become a centrepiece for the younger girls’ prairie life play, and likely will be for the older ones too.

Check out week three! We focused on The Little House on the Prairie. This is the third book in the Little House on the Prairie book set. During the week we did some of prairie cooking (soda biscuits) and also made some curtains, hay sticks and a hammock net. Gary and the little ones did some gardening in our prairie garden and we tried to make some more of our rag rug.

Connecting to By the Shores of Silver Lake

Within the world of By the Shores of Silver Lake, this project carries special meaning. Pioneer families relied on ingenuity to survive. They worked with limited supplies, made constant repairs, and expected children to observe closely, adapt quickly, and contribute meaningfully.

By building a toy wood-burning stove, our homeschoolers did more than study pioneer life, they experienced it. They practiced the very skills Laura Ingalls Wilder described: making do, thinking creatively, and building what they needed from what they had.

Week four we focused on ‘On the Banks of Plum Creek’ and the children learnt about herbal medicine, stained a rocking chair for the corner of the house, made some baskets and began a productive Little House vegetable garden. And lastly, we made some home-made yogurt and a blueberry pie.

Why This Kind of Learning Matters

Hands-on projects like this nurture:

• Independent thinking
• Practical engineering skills
• Fine and gross motor development
• Confidence and perseverance
• Meaningful connections to literature and history

Watching thoughtful, independent engineering unfold is one of the quiet joys of homeschooling, especially when it grows directly out of curiosity and play.

Reflection Questions for Homeschoolers

Use these questions for journaling, discussion, or narration:

1. What problem did Thomas notice with the original box, and how did he solve it?
2. Which part of the stove design do you think was the most important? Why?
3. How is this stove similar to the ones pioneer families used?
4. What materials were reused or repurposed in this project?
5. If you were building a prairie stove, what would you do differently?

Hands-On Activity Ideas to Extend the Lesson

1. Design Your Own Prairie Tool
Have your child sketch and label a tool a pioneer family might need, using only materials they already have.

2. Build a Mini Stove Model
Use cardboard boxes, craft sticks, and paper fasteners to create a small-scale stove.

3. Science Tie-In: Heat & Airflow
Discuss how real stoves control heat. Experiment with airflow using boxes and small vents.

4. Writing Activity
Write a diary entry from a pioneer child explaining how they helped build or maintain the family stove.

5. Role-Play Prairie Life
Encourage imaginative play in the Little House using the stove—cooking meals, staying warm, or preparing for winter.

Last week, we focused on By the Shores of the Silver Lake. We made signs for over the front door and inside the cottage, wove our own baskets, Thomas began building a stove for the cottage, made some molasses popcorn balls and a very tasty prairie chicken with home grown green beans.

Final Thoughts about Building a Toy Wood-Burning Stove

Building a toy wood-burning Stove is a beautiful reminder that some of the richest homeschool lessons aren’t planned, they’re noticed. When we allow children the time, tools, and trust to build, experiment, and try again, we give them skills that reach far beyond the lesson itself.

Well done, Thomas. This stove is more than a project—it’s a legacy of learning.