Cardboard for Kids: A Toy House

Its not that my son loves playing with toy houses. We've never had one, and when we go to the Early Years Center, he rarely pays attention to the doll house there, even though there are lots of various dolls, dressed like different professionals (doctor, policeman, etc.) and a great variety of furnishings and utensils.

My idea for this project was to utilize the cardboard boxes, that I had collected for Santino to play with. I thought he would want to build towers or walls, but he never does. So I decided to re-purpose them. I wanted to build something "cool" like a fire station or a castle, but got side-tracked thinking how to decorate the insides of the rooms.

I came up with the idea to cut out photos from some interior design magazines, that I was about to throw out, and glue them to the floors and walls.

 

For this project:

a few cardboard boxes (popcorn, kleenex, juice, etc.)

a couple of design magazines

scissors, paper glue, dolls/characters, whatever tiny furniture or props you have

I glued the boxes together, trying to keep those of the same height on the same level. Then I cut out the fronts, painted with brown paint, making it look like bricks, and started decorating.I even glued some brick wall photos on the side of the house.

As I mentioned above, I dropped my original idea of making a fire station. This doesn't mean I am not going to make it later, but today I made a house. There is really no special design style here. I simply used those pics that would fit in the space and would have the correct angle. Some of them worked really well, even I when looking at my own photos here, get a feeling of 3D decorations and space.

I also attempted to make my own furniture out of cardboard cutouts, as we really don't have any. It didn't really take long, but when I saw how great magazine pictures worked, providing the feeling of the furniture, I decided not to do it.

As cool as this doll house may seem to me, I doubt Santino would be playing with it as actively as he played with my cardboard parking lot or castle. If he does, I'll update this post. he he

Update: He loved this house! He played all morning, knocked it down a few times, put the dragon in the washroom and on the roof, and role played with the characters. The cardboard furniture didn't survive this play, but otherwise, the house is still a functional toy!