How To Make a Room For a Doll For Under Five Pounds

The brilliant thing about children is their imagination. This can be clearly demonstrated when they choose to play with the cardboard box instead of the gift that came in it.

Parents can make their own lives easier by recognizing this talent children have for imaginative play and saving a lot of money at the same time. Now, I’m not suggesting you surround your children with shoddy goods, but, just once in a while, there are ways that their imagination can be put to good use for an afternoon and parent and child can play together.

If you have a little girl who has a few hours free from a busy schedule, why not spend this time making something that they can play with? The child will love the act of sitting down at a table and working with you, just as much as playing with the finished result.

Here is how to make a doll’s room, for under five pounds.

Materials

For this project you will need:

• Cardboard

• Paper

• Material edging tape

• Hot melt gun and glue sticks

• Computer

• Printer

• Ink

• Iron

• Sticky tape.

Building Process

1/ Begin by cutting the walls and floor of the room out of cardboard. We are not going to fit a ceiling onto this room as it is far easier to play if there isn’t one.

2/ Using the computer and printer, design some wallpaper and maybe a chequered tile pattern for the floor and print them out on sheets of A4 paper.

3/ Using clear sticky tape, cover the walls and floor with the printed paper. Make sure it folds over the edges so it can be taped at the back.

4/ Begin to assemble the room. This is done by holding two walls together and running a bead of glue along the edge of one of them. Place a strip of edging tape, half onto this piece. Rin glues down the second wall and folds the edging tape over it. The tape now holds the wall together.

5/ Use the same method as step 4 to attach the other wall and the floor.

6/ When the room is assembled, use a hot iron to melt the glue once more and smooth the edging tape for a stronger finish.

7/  Cover the outside walls of the room with plain paper, just to hide the cardboard and make a tidier job.

The room is now complete but needs some furniture. Secondhand doll furniture can be found on internet auction sites for a low price, but it would be much better if you and your little girl carried on with the project and made your own. Whatever the room is to be; kitchen, bedroom, living room, or even bathroom, it is much more fun to make your own bits and pieces.

If you have used good quality, strong cardboard, there is no reason this room shouldn’t last a long time. Using the same process and dimensions it is possible to add rooms when you have time to create a complete house. It is of a kind that will never be repeated. Let’s not forget the memories that are building in your child’s mind too. They are priceless.