Dolls House - bedroom

I am very proud of this project.  Not so much because of what we've made today, but because of what it's the start of.  

Today C and I made a bedroom from a child's shoe box.  Next time apparently we are going to make a sitting room.  Then a kitchen.  The room is very basic, the furniture even more so.  But because each room is made from a shoe box, we can redecorate or add another room whenever we feel like it (and have a shoe box to spare).  Furniture and people can be made or bought.  As Little Sis gets older they can both make and decorate a room each, and can keep a house each in their room or combine rooms to make a really big house.  If a room gets trashed, it's not a problem, we can make another.  We're talking the ultimate flexible dolls house arrangement.  What's more, the children get to use their own creativity and making skills to put together each room, so the whole thing is a learning, doing and playing experience.

Here's what we did today.  We kept things very simple - he's only two and a half after all!


First I provided a shoe box and asked him which room we should make.  I also picked up two Duplo characters to act as our inhabitants to begin with.  He said we should make a bedroom.

I showed him the pile of felt and he chose the colour of the carpet.  I then showed him how to draw around the box so that we could cut the carpet the right size - he was trying to put the whole piece of felt in.  He squeezed the glue into the box and we put the carpet in together.

Next I showed him a few bits of paper of various colours and patterns and he chose some yellow for the wallpaper.  I showed him again how to draw around the box to cut the wallpaper to the right size, and again he glued the walls of the box and we stuck the paper in.

We had a rummage through the recycling to find something suitable for a bed.  I showed him that the first few suggestions were too big (by trying to put them in the box unsuccessfully) and then suggested that we could cut down the cup-a-soup box and that might be a good size.  He liked this idea.


Once the bed was in the bedroom I suggested that we needed some bedding.  He quite liked the idea of an entire piece of A4 paper for a duvet, but I suggested that we might like something softer, and with great subtlety moved the remainder of the piece of felt so that it was in front of him.  The hint was taken, and we cut out two pillows and a duvet.


I asked what other furniture we should have in a bedroom, and at this stage the only thing he felt was important was a clock.  I showed him how to draw around a small selotape reel to make a small circle, and then we looked together at the kitchen clock to see where the numbers should go.  He told me we should make it seven o'clock so that it could be bedtime or time to get up.


He's absolutely delighted with his bedroom, loves that it comes with a lid, and has repeatedly got the couple up and put them back to bed.  He's now looking forward to making some more rooms to add to it to make a house.