Author: Gauri Kshirsagar

Childhood….. it’s that time in life where a simple cardboard box can make you incredibly excited and entertained for hours on end. And if you throw in a couple of sheets and pillows, well, that’s icing on the cake. In this article, I will give you some tips and ideas on how to convert an ordinary cardboard box into a fun play house.

The British name for a playhouse is a “Wendy House,” named after a tent-like structure that the lost boys built for Wendy Darling in J.M. Barrie’s famous story, Peter Pan. The prop made for the stage play of Peter Pan in 1904 birthed the expression “Wendy House” for children’s playhouses thereafter.

Corrugated cardboard is the ideal material for a playhouse. It’s easy to cut, fold, stick, draw on and decorate. Cardboard is also free (or very cheap) and readily available. Using cardboard to make a playhouse is a great way to recycle.

This DIY cardboard box playhouse will help ignite your kids’ imaginations — and it’s totally easy to make. The best part? The playhouse collapses down flat when the kids are done playing with it, so it’s super easy to store and won’t clutter up the house. Wherever your children’s interests lie, they will love to make and decorate a cardboard house that will allow their imaginations to run wild.

In this playhouse I have used a single large cardboard box which had a lid on top. You can use huge boxes which came with your appliances, You know the ones: the box that your refrigerator came in, or speakers or the TV. You’ve probably been saving them in case you need to return the item for a refund or sell it on olx. Well, you don’t really need those empty boxes. Have fun with them instead. The box from a flat screen TV could be an awesome roof! You don’t have a box at home you can check out the supermarket, usually they do have extras.

Coming back to the playhouse I have cut open the base and have used the lid of the box as a roof. I have cut two sections of the house, one for the door and the other for the window. For the decorations I have covered all the walls with white paper and the roof with black paper. All the decorations were done using craft paper and colours with lots of help from my twins.

 

On all the sides I have either painted or stuck craft paper to make murals of natures which includes flowers, grass, fruit tree, butterflies, birds etc to give the house a feel of a garden around it.

The overhead model depicts a rainbow with a smiling sun some clouds and rain drops all around the house. This model was separately made using thermocol and cardboard and stuck over the roof.

The size of the window cut out is huge for more light, and is also decorated with creepers of grapes and fence.

Here is a zoomed in photo of the painting with raindrops (which are hand painted by my daughters)

For the interiors I have used a nice rug with pictures of strawberries on it with two small pillow. Since the base is open, the rug can be removed and the area can be cleaned easily after a day’s play. The roof of the house is black with glow in the dark stars.

For more detailed explanation do check out the video below:

 

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