Building a Toddler's Dollhouse

Here's the first change of what I am sure will be
many-once I picked up the boxes I discovered that
they weren't the size I expected. They actually
measure 11 X 17 X 9 . Don't know what that will mean
in the total scheme of things. Maybe nothing. Also,
Beanies are 9" tall, so the scale I thought I was going
for is a little off. Don't think that matters, either.
Gracie is 2 1/2! She is not going to notice!

The leprechauns came to me in the
THE LEPRECHAUNS CAME TO
ME IN THE MIDDLE OF THE
NIGHT AND GAVE ME THIS
GREAT IDEA!!

Well, actually, the idea came after a phone conversation with my daughter in which 2 1/2 year old Gracie Mae was in the
background talking to her "babies" about finding them a "cozy home". She is in the middle of a move from her nursery to a "Big
Girl's Bedroom", in advance of the arrival to the family of a new baby. All the shifting about, remodeling and redecorating has left
her, I am sure, feeling a little unsettled. She has been moving her babies (a trio of those little comfort blankets with heads)
around trying to find a new "house" in which they can feel cozy, safe and comfortable. Must be a little echo of what she is feeling,
huh? And she doesn't even really KNOW about the baby yet! Anyway, I thought it would be nice for her to have a house that she
could actually put her babies in - one that was big enough for them (or for Beanie Babies) and one that was pretty much toddler
proof. I came up with these criteria: made out of stuff that was cheap, readily available and easily contructable; stuff that could
be easily replaced when it got broken; stuff that she could help me paint and decorate; sized for easy handling by toddler hands.

This is what I came up with and what I am
actually doing . . . . .

I am starting with four of the boxes that printer paper
comes in (the school's media center has tons and tons of
them. They are 11" X 17" X 9". Stacking them four high
will give me a house 22" tall and 34" wide, 9" deep,
without the attic and roof. This will enable me to build
on a scale of roughly 1 inch to 1 foot - a nice size for
toddler hands, and for Beanie sized dolls.

MARCH 17, '07, Monday

My "building materials" are going to be wide masking tape, a couple of yardsticks, hot glue and a hot glue gun, an exacto knife, a couple
of sheets of 1/4" foamcore board and tag board from the hardware store, newspaper, plain white paper towel (the cheaper the
better), wallpaper paste for paper mache, tongue depressers and acrylic paint. I will finish it off with scrap "stuff" (like fabric,
paper cores, foam scraps, etc.) Tomorrow (Monday) I will pick up the boxes and get to work.

BACK

MARCH 18, '07 - Tuesday

Use 2" wide
masking tape.
My first thought
was to use duct
tape (it is nice
and sticky).
Then I
remembered
that paper
mache only
sticks to
masking tape.

Tape all the
boxes together
well. Then cover
all the open
seams and raw
edges with tape.
I reinforced
the two front
edges of the tall
box stacks with
a couple of
broken yards
sticks and a lot
of tape.

At first I thought I would use two of the box tops cut on the
diagonal and joined together to make the peak for the roof. But
after I got it done I didn't like it.

So I switched to a gable that
is cut from foamcore. It
measures 35 1/2" across the
bottom, 22 1/2" along each
side and 12" from the center
to the peak. The two little
angle supports will go on the
front to help hold up the roof.
Each roof side will be
10" wide by 22" long.

If you can find sheets of 1/4" foamcore (actually, it is 3/16"), it is the ideal building material for something like this. It cuts
easily with an Exacto knife and you assemble it with a hot glue gun. You can get it at art supply stores, or at craft stores (like
Michael's or Hobby Lobby). I get mine at my local Ace Hardware. It is certainly more expensive than corrugated carboard from
boxes (which is free!), but it is pure white, which is easier to decorate, in the long run. I guess I am okay with its cost of a couple
of bucks (or so) a sheet.

Questions? email me at
doll_house@jnbartteacher.com

Tomorrow I break out the wallpaper paste, newspaper, and paper
towels for the paper mache.

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