DIY CARDBOARD DOLLSHOUSE

Today's #easyplayidea is another simple one - a DIY cardboard house! I've made several of these now and you really are only limited by your imagination as you can make it any shape or size. It can be a house like the one we've made or a castle or a city skyline or a mountainous hideout, anything really and the best bit? When you're finished playing, it can be stored flat, out of the way ready for next time.

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To get started you need -

•  a big, strong piece of cardboard (we visited a local appliance shop that removes the boxes from fridges and the like before delivery - we were so disappointed when our new fridge arrived without its box!)
• a sharp knife 
• long ruler 
• optional - some paint or nice paper (we used scrap booking paper but wrapping paper would work even better if you're planning a large house) 

I say optional as I made a blank cardboard house for the preschoolers I worked with last year which they loved playing with but the cardboard didn't have writing on it like the box we used this time so we decided to pretty our house up a little this time. I had made a cardboard castle before which we just painted.

Once you have decided on your shape, you need to mark out your design onto two pieces of cardboard then carefully cut them out. I prefer to cut on the lawn but it had just started raining so I just used a spare piece of card underneath to protect the blade.

With a simple house design like this, one side is quickly done. To join the two pieces, you simply cut a thin line from the bottom to the middle in one piece and another thin line from the top to the middle in the second piece.

The two pieces then slot together to form your simple cardboard house. The open design makes it perfect for many children to play together.

To cover up the printing, we chose some pretty scrapbooking paper to act as wallpaper on some walls and then raided our shed for some leftover paint for some other walls. You could just as easily (and more cheaply) paint your own wallpaper on some big paper and then stick that in when dry.

 Once it was all dry, the Lalaloopsy and my five year old wasted no time in moving in.

The other, older two decided to start making some extra furniture for the new house from the leftover cardboard and paper. This sofa was made by my ten year old especially for her little sister.

You can read our other #easyplayidea posts - one, two, three, four, five, six, seven and eight and you can check out the hashtag #easyplayidea on Instagram for more easy ways to promote play in your house.