As promised I'll be posting some of my favorite craft activities for kids this summer and this first one I saw in FamilyFun Magazine several years ago.It's a dollhouse made from recycled household products: egg cartons, match boxes, bottle caps, milk jug
lids, cardboard tubes, scraps of fabric, cotton balls, contact paper. What's makes it so fun is that it is a work in progress and the possibilities are endless for creative inventiveness.Grace and Lillian started this one last week and have been adding on
ever since. I particularly like their little macaroni-handle on the oven, a classy touch. They used wood-patterned contact paper for the floor, spray painted a soap box silver for the refrigerator, used the cups from an egg carton for the kitchen chairs and small boxes stuffed with batting and covered with fabric for those two blue chairs. Yes, those are two of the empty Tiffany boxes that I got for Valentine's Day. I couldn't think of anything else to do with them and they make lovely matching chairs.
To start, give your child a cardboard box or boxes, a supply of recycled items such as pipe cleaners, straws, corks, buttons, beads, Popsicle sticks and some pictures printed off this post or the links at FamilyFun and let them go to it. Within no time they'll have a penthouse that even Barbie would envy.Check in with Rocks in My Dryer every Wednesday for other good tips.
And if you're interested in more crafts activities for children check back this Saturday for a special new weekly feature here at Scribbit. You're going to like it I promise . . .
Technorati tags: WFMW, crafts, children, summer vacation, dolls
Thats really cute, Scribbit!
ReplyDeleteI love stuff like this. That is just about the cutest thing!!! The memories they will treasure forever.
ReplyDeleteWe are doing a castle this summer, kind of along the same lines.
How 'bout YOU just make one for me. ;) LOVE IT!
ReplyDeleteThat's SO cute! I love this idea. Those Tiffany's boxes are a nice touch ;) Thanks for sharing this one..have a great day! :)
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to show my daughter these photos. She would have a blast doing this!
ReplyDeleteYour girls are terrific. Wonderful ideas!
That is so totally cool!!! I so want a mom like you!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun idea. I'm not sure if my girls are old enough to make something like that, but we may have to try it anyway.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the idea.
This is amazing! I love it! I used to use the stick from a push pop frozen treat as a lamp- putting a little dixie cup on top to be the lamp shade. And those tiny boxes of nerds candy were always little cereal boxes. Love it!!!
ReplyDeleteSteph
Oh my! That is soo gorgeous, and heaps better than the crappy over-priced things from ToyRus
ReplyDeleteOh that is cool! My oldest would love to do something like this. We'd have to modify it---make it for animals, maybe in space (LOL)---but she's all about the art adn architecture. :)
ReplyDeleteThis is great! I was always taking trash items and making them into something...pair that with my love of miniature and I probably would have played with this all day!
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me that I have been dying to find an old small book shelf for a Family Fun craft of making it into a doll house. They have the best ideas, don't they?
ReplyDeleteI never built things quite like this when I was a boy, but I did make all kinds of items for my Big Josh doll, excuse me, action figure.
ReplyDeleteMy mother was awsome with sewing, and I would take some of her scraps and made Josh a backpack, a crude but serviceable duster, and whatever else I could come up with.
Y'all have done great work on this. The stove and sink work are my favorites. Brings back memories of Big Josh and Me. I wrote a post about Older Brother and Me playing with our dolls if you're bored one evening.
I made those when I was a kid. It was so much fun!
ReplyDeleteÇOK GÜZEL BİR SİTE.
ReplyDeleteOooh I love this idea!
ReplyDeleteLinda
Oooo fine motor skills and imaginative play in one fell swoop = nice to dream.
ReplyDeleteCheers
great activity! I need to see if my daughter's interested!
ReplyDeleteI would have loved this as a kid! I don't have girls but this kind of thing makes me wish I did. I'll be looking forward to your future posts about summer activities.
ReplyDeleteI remember when this came out in Family Fun. Unfortunately my boys won't go for it. Maybe we could decorate it with a Star Wars twist and their action figures could live in it. Hmmmm
ReplyDeleteI love it! Thanks for the idea. (I look forward to hearing about the new feature. And the write-away contest too.)
ReplyDeleteI LOVE this. It is so sweet -- and how wonderful to have the pictures to show to their own children someday.
ReplyDeleteThis is soooo cute! I'm sure my daughter will be inspired.
ReplyDeleteThose are so cute and I'm sure a homemade dollhouse will become a family heirloom!
ReplyDeleteKailani
An Island Life
As always, your motherly talents astound me! So, so cute.
ReplyDeleteThis is my kind of project, especially since all of the items can be found around the house. I bet hair bows, paper clips and kidney beans could be useful for this activity.
ReplyDeleteHOW FUN!!!!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful---but that isn't surprising given their creative mom.
ReplyDeleteI need to start filing away things like this for when Baby Diva is Diva the Kid...
this is wonderful! we used to do stuff like this all the time when i was growing up! it's nice to see it all over again....can't wait till my daughter will want to play with a dollhouse of any sort! :)
ReplyDeleteoo, this brings up so many good memories of me pouring over a book (see below) on making dollhouse furniture. I still have the book with my seven year old marks of course; it's a wonderful resource, absolutely perfect for your daughters - they would love it.
ReplyDeleteDollhouse Magic: How to Make and Find Simple Dollhouse Furniture
P.K. Roche, Scholastic 1977
I am so impressed with you doll houses! How clever and cute. I agree--the macaroni handle is the perfect touch! I look forward to more fun ideas to come.
ReplyDeleteMy grandparents made me a recycled box doll house and got me started with this. For years every little bit of packaging needed to be inspected for my dollhouse potential. Ex. toothpaste cap lamp shades...I used everything! Hours and hours and hours of entertainment-for cheap!
ReplyDeleteI used to do this as a child all the time. And had great fun with it! I was reminiscing just the other day and thinking of how fun it would be to let my 8 year old invite over a friend and make them together!
ReplyDeleteHow cute and creative! Looks like your kids take after you.
ReplyDeletethat dolls house furniture is so cool...wonder if my boys would be interested?
ReplyDeleteI was looking for handicrafts for my girls to do during the summer vacation. This one goes to the top of my list! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI just love this!!!! My kids are too big but I'm going to pass this on to my sister she has 2 little ones and it looks like something that would be a ton of fun to do.
ReplyDeleteOh, my nieces would love this! Thanks for the idea!
ReplyDeleteOh, that brings back memories of the Sunshine family for me!
ReplyDeleteIt'd be nice if they told us how to make them.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful house....
ReplyDeleteI really like. :)
ReplyDelete