Growing up in my house, there was a ton of time for fun and games. I never had to worry about playtime, because there was always plenty of it.
As a child, I didn't necessarily need a bunch of toys. In fact, one of my favorite "toys" was an empty cardboard box. I have pictures of my grandfather pushing a smiling, 2-year-old me around the living room in one. Sometimes the simplest toys are the best ones. So when I saw what this DIY mom made, I knew that she was about to provide her child with hours of fun and entertainment.
I found this easy and clever project on A Beautiful Mess, where Mandi Johnson makes an awesome collapsable playhouse for her daughter. Such a great idea! And though she tailored this DIY project for her little girl, it just as easily could've been geared towards a boy.
Mandi's homemade playhouse is the perfect addition to any child's room. I'm jealous I didn't have one growing up — I might just have abandoned my cardboard box.
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In deciding what type of DIY project to make, Mandi had the same impulse as I did. She writes, "If you had given me the choice of a fort made of cardboard and duct tape versus one of those Fisher Price playhouses, I would have chosen the shoddily assembled cardboard version every time."
Mandi decided to draw up very detailed plans for a playhouse for her daughter. "I thought she'd really enjoy a Mama-made plahouse — and boy, did she ever!"
Mandi carefully measured out the pieces to her house, though she definitely thinks there is room for flexibility. "If you are working with smaller pieces of cardboard or an actual box, why not come up with your own design?"
Since she didn't have a ton of extra space in her home, Mandi decided to make the playhouse collapsable. She used foam board because it was "the quickest/easiest material to work with since all I need to cut it was my trusty X-Acto blade." She smartly used household objects to cut out the round shapes in the house.
She cut out her panels, roof, and door. "After cutting out the door, you'll want to cut away a little extra around it so that it will easily open without getting stuck inside the opening where you cut it from."
With all of her pieces ready to go, Mandi started to put her house together. She decided to do this on her own, but admitted "it would have been nice to have some help standing up the two sides of the house while I slipped on the front or back panel."
And how did Mandi make the door functional? She cleverly used white duct tape as a door hinge!
Mandi's house was fully assembled and ready to play in. But she decided not to stop there. It was time to put her own creative spin on the playhouse!
Mandi "decided to jazz it up a little bit with the addition of paint, gingerbreading, shingles, and a little more detail drawn on with a Sharpie paint pen. There are so many ways you can go with this — it's really a lot of fun!"
While Mandi built the house and decorated the outside, she decided to let her daughter's creativity take care of the inside. "I plan on getting inside there with Lucy and some magic markers and letting her interior design the joint to her heart's content."
Please SHARE if you also think that simple DIY projects like this are a great idea.
