DIY American Girl Doll Potting Bench

Above is my finished version of an American Girl doll potting bench.

       We're setting up a play garden area on our back patio this summer, that is, as soon as the rain stops pouring and the sunshine shows it's face!

Left, craft supplies, Center, wooden drying rack, 
Right I'm testing to see if the rack will fit inside the lid of my shoebox.

The potting bench is glued
 together but not yet painted.

       A doll sized, faux wooden work bench for the little girl who loves to play at gardening, can be any size. However, I will include the exact measurements of the one pictured with this post for those of you who would like to build it with similar proportions.

Supply List:

• decorative paper with rustic wooden motif
• cardboard + a shoe box
• masking tape
• hot glue and hot glue gun
• large wooden craft sticks (tongue depressors)
• white school glue 
• Mod Podge
• slatted wooden tray insert (optional)
• small plastic hooks
• Sculpey or oven bake clay
• plastic molds of garden tools, doll size

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. I believe that I used the lid of a shoebox to make the upper counter of this potting bench, but I may have cut it down a bit. It measures 16" x 6 1/2". Turning the lid of a cardboard shoebox over makes for an easier method, however I wanted to include the wooden drying rack on the table top, so I fit the cardboard counter for this.
2. Cut the bottom cardboard piece the same length and width. The center shelf measures 13 1/2" x 5". The backsplash wall at the top measures 16" x 6". All three shelves and back splash were cut from of heavy cardboard.
3. I covered the cardboard pieces with decorative paper having a rustic wooden motif using Mod Podge.
4. Then I cut large wooden craft sticks to make the legs. I cut 12 of these to 9" in length.
5. Next, tape the legs into triangular shapes, using three tongue depressors for each leg. 
6. Then hot glue the legs in place supporting the top, resting on the bottom cardboard sheet. 
7. Carefully hot glued the inner shelf in place.
8. The backsplash was glued in place last along with two additional supports cut from tongue depressors. 
9. After the assembly of the potting bench, you may wish to paint the wooden parts of the potting bench in a similar fashion.  
10. Use acrylic paints that will dry fast in the sunshine, otherwise your structure could warp a bit.
11. Add a few hooks for garden tools onto the backsplash.
12. I also found a plastic mold for garden tools at my local hobby shop. From this mold I sculpted a pair of grass sheers, a hand shovel and a hand rake to paint and hang from those hooks.
13. I purchased a small wooden bird house, crate, and wheelbarrow from a resale shop down the street. 
14. The lowest shelf is perfect for our dolls to store their garden boots too! 
15. Now our American Girl dolls can garden whenever they please on our back patio this summer!

Here you can see the triangular legs for our bench made from wooden tongue depressors.

The potting bench pictured both with and without the wooden drying rack. I purchased this for two dollars at resale.

The front and backside of our glued, faux wooden planting bench.

Plastic mold for sculpting garden tools.