My husband and I had been considering buying our daughter her first dollhouse, but decided against it for a couple of reasons. First, the nice ones are quite pricey. Second, our daughter loves to climb on anything and everything, including her toys.
While organizing the kids' room a few months back, I came across some shoe boxes that I had been saving (in case they came in handy). I was trying to decide whether or not to throw them away when the idea came to me. I could make a dollhouse with them! I kept it a secret from my daughter and worked on it during naptime. I wanted to surprise her when it was done. Although, it would also be a great project to do with your child.
Below is a photo of my finished dollhouse, followed by photos and more details of the steps that I took to make it.
Finished Dollhouse
First, I glued the shoe boxes together and made a roof/attic. For the roof/attic, I cut one of the small shoebox lids in half, marked and cut the back (from the large shoebox lid), and glued them together. I let everything set overnight.
Next, I glued the roof/attic to the top, added and glued a piece of cardboard (bent in half) to make a bathroom in the bottom corner of the larger shoebox, and let it all set. Then I painted all of the rooms with watercolors and left it to dry. I also added star stickers to the attic/playroom, which conveniently had a building skyline from the shoebox that I used.
I sketched some furniture, cut it out, and glued it to the leftover cardboard (from the shoeboxes).
Then I cut the furniture out and glued it to the dollhouse, along with two cardboard jewelry gift boxes as beds, and one of the jewelry gift box lids (top down) as an open toy chest (in the attic/playroom). I also added a book/toy shelf, and painted a couple things onto the wall in the kids room.
That's how I made my daughter's first shoebox dollhouse!
You can make your own with whatever size shoeboxes and other supplies you have laying around the house! Have fun being creative!
I hope you enjoyed this post! Feel free to share!
Working to create positive change in myself, my family, my community and the world. Making a difference one baby step at a time.
