With the way that our world is going now, I am not surprised that you can build your own virtual dollhouse on your computer. Everything is going electronic. The children of this up and coming generation know way more about technology as a child than any of their grandparents or even parents knew as children.

There are games that you can buy and other games and programs that you can play for free. And, just like everyone else, they all have at least one social media account that you can check out. You can pretty much find a dollhouse game or program that will fit your preferences and likes.

Pros of a Digital Dollhouse

• You can find free programs out there – your dollhouse won’t cost you any money!
• You can change the decoration or style of your house at any time.
• There are unlimited styles, pieces of furniture, and house styles to choose from.
• You don’t have to be “crafty” – if you don’t like to or just can’t build or create physical things, you don’t have to.
• Your dollhouse doesn’t take up any room in your actual house.

Cons of a Digital Dollhouse

• You don’t get the satisfaction of creating something that you can touch.
• Just what every child needs is to spend more time at the computer… right? (that was sarcasm if you couldn’t tell)
• In most games, you probably only get some choices of decorations and furniture. The things that you really want to use probably all cost money.

Conclusion

Digital dollhouses have many pros and cons. It all just depends on what you want to get out of your house. Do you want a physical project and perhaps a keepsake? Or do you want to save room in your house and have more options?

When you create your own doll sized dollhouse, you can pretty much build it however you want and ignore all of these things of the real world house building. You can put your dollhouse’s doors on the ceiling if you want to (although I’m not sure why you would want to do that).

What would your dream dollhouse look like? Here are a few ideas to think about before you start building your dream dollhouse.

Size

How many bedrooms are there going to be in this house? Is your dream dollhouse going to be a mansion, a small cottage, or something in between? What size dolls do you want to accommodate? Life size “dolls” or miniature dolls? Are there going to be multiple floors to this house, or just one single floor?

House Access

Is your dream dollhouse a dollhouse that you can see into from the top, with no roof? Or is your dollhouse a house that you look at and have access to from the side? If it’s the side, is it the front of the house or the back of the house?

Furnishings

How big are the furnishings you are planning to furnish this dollhouse with? Do you have enough to fill the whole house? Based on the different rooms in your house, do you have enough beds for each bedroom for example?

Have Fun

Creating a dream dollhouse can be loads of fun, but who knew that there were so many things to think about before you started building? Now that you know, good luck and have fun!

It’s your daughter’s birthday and you have decided to buy her a dollhouse. The question now is, what kind of dollhouse should you get her? Here are a few things to consider when picking out a dollhouse.

Pre-Built?

Do you want to buy a dollhouse that is already built and ready to use? Do you want a dollhouse kit that you have to assemble before using? Or do you want to build your dollhouse from scratch?

There is not one best option when deciding which kind of dollhouse to buy. It all depends on your preference. If you want more creativity in how your dollhouse will end up looking, and you have the know-how and tools to do it, building from scratch will be your best choice. If you are like me, and are not very crafty, then buying a pre-built, ready to play with dollhouse is probably your best option.

Size

Does your house or yard allow for a full, life-size dollhouse? Or are you limited on room and need to keep it small? Either way, be sure that you measure the space that you are planning on putting the dollhouse in before you buy. No kid likes to have to take back one of their birthday presents.

Style

Once you have decided how big your dollhouse will be and whether or not you will build from scratch, you get to pick what it will look like. This is the fun part! You are basically designing your dream house now.

Do you want a smaller, simpler cottage? An extravagant mansion? Or a mid-size, rustic cabin. Think of the kinds of games your daughter will be able to play in each kind of house and then decide which would be more fun for her to act out.

Have Fun!

No matter which kind of house you pick, I am sure that your daughter will have fun as long as she has the right accessories to play with. Now that you have picked the right dollhouse, you can sit back and imagine the hours of fun she will have playing with her new toy!

Imagine a dollhouse museum, full of dollhouses and miniatures that tell their own story. There is one such dollhouse museum in Danville, Kentucky (that is about 45 minutes from the state’s capitol Lexington). It is called The Great American Dollhouse Museum.

This dollhouse museum lets you take a step back in time. The unique design of one exhibit is a timeline of history. It winds through history stopping in each of the following eras: Native American, colonial, old west, southwest, Victorian, and even the twentieth century.

Another exhibit allows you to walk through the town of Copper Hollow. This miniature representation of the town is set in around 1910. The streets and neighborhoods are a wonder to walk through. You are able to wind your way through the real streets and neighborhoods, even peer into the back windows of small businesses.

One cool thing that this museum does is offer educational classes. If this blog doesn’t have enough “how to” instruction for you, you can take a class from the museum workers. In this class you will learn to master the art of making miniatures and learn about the historical museum. Sounds like a wonderful place to be.

By going to this or any other dollhouse museum, you can get ideas for your own dollhouse and miniatures. Or you can just escape back into time for a few hours, imagining that you are one of the little people depicted in the exhibits.

Allowing children time for some make-believe play has more benefits than just getting them out of your hair. Make-believe play allows children to develop their imagination. It takes a lot of creativity to develop a game out of nothing.

Make-believe play allows for children to walk through their emotions. If something happens in their life that they don’t understand (for example someone was rude to them at school), they can walk through those emotions during their play in order to understand more fully what happened.

Make-believe play also:

• Develops social skills and problem solving skills
• Strengthens memory, logical reasoning, literacy, and language skills
• Allows children to explore the world beyond safely
• Allows children to think abstractly and about other’s point of view

What does this have to do with doll houses? What better place for make-believe play than a doll house? There are no boundaries or rules when playing in the doll house. You can be anyone and have anything you want in that other world.

Doll house are often depictions of real houses. This allows children to act out real life scenarios as well. They can put themselves in other people’s shoes and try to understand what they may be thinking.

They can learn life lessons when playing with adults. In make-believe play, you can stop “life” and ask questions. You can have a “do over” in certain situations that real life doesn’t allow you to have. Best of all though, by participating in make-believe play, you can create memories. Most kids, years down the road, don’t remember what the score of their sports game was. Most kids remember the make-believe games they created.

Dresser/VanityTo make a perfect vanity or dresser set use a small, individual sized cereal box set on its side. Cut up popsicle sticks to make the legs and little cardboard pieces to represent drawers. Paint the whole thing as you’d like. To attach a mirror use a half lid of a coffee or Pringles can lid and cover the inside with aluminum foil. Glue all pieces together and let dry.

Bed and Mattress The bed and mattress set is easy to make, especially if fruit is in season. Trim a berry basket so that it resembles the mattress,head and footboards. For the other two sides, cut them straight just above the holes all the way down to the bottom of the box, never cutting them completely apart from the head/footboard piece. Fold the other two sides under to serve as the frame. You can use a sponge or foam for the mattress, a cotton pillow and fabric bed cover.

If you are extra creative you could even crochet or knit a bedspread.

Nightstand
For any kind of nightstand or side table you can use the lid of an old spray can. Simply place the open side face down to create a contemporary, modern look. You can add color, fabric or stickers to the top for added decoration.

Additionally, you doll will of course need a bedside lamp so that she can do everything she needs to before jumping into bed. This lamp can be made with a golf tee, bendy straw and toothpaste cap. Use the golf tee as the base and place it upside down. Cut the straw down to size and then place the straight end over the point of the tee. Follow it up by adding a toothpaste lid wide side facing down to the other end of the straw. Wah lah! You have a minature lamp.

Join us next time for the dollhouse final touches.

Coffee Table

The coffee table is an easy fix. First you should decide if you want it to be round or rectangle. Then, based on your choice you will find a carton in that shape, and cut it down so that it is just tall enough to make the sides of the table. You can then put pushpins in to make the bottom and a cardboard cutout for the top. Decorate however you’d like. Spray paint, crayons, markers and even construction paper or stickers are good options.

Arm chair or Couch

Using a cardboard or even plastic berry box is a good option for an armchair or sofa. You may have to add a little padding afterwards to make it look believable. Cut the bottom of the box around the air holes and set it upside down for the base (picture included). Then cut a another section out and place it right side up for the seat and back.

Cushions and throw pillows can be made by placing cotton in between two squares of fabric which are then glued, stapled or sewed together.

Fireplace

A paper towel (cut short) or toilet paper tube can be used for the chimney portion of the fireplace. The actual fireplace itself can be made with a tea box. You can make it square by simply cutting a square out of one of the long sides and placing the chimney on top of the box, or you can be a little more creative. To make a more funky, diagonal looking fireplace (picture also included)- use the following steps:

- Cut off and discard the front and bottom panels of a tea box.
- Cut a rectangular opening centered along the lower edge of the back panel.
- Trim the long edge of the box lid to fit around the stack.
- Cut the shorter edges diagonally and fold the box sides back against them.
- Tape the pieces together.

No matter which version you do, you can paint it to look like a fireplace.

Wood and fire can be made using a bottle cork and mylar or colored foil.

Next entry we will learn about the bedroom.

Let’s start with the most important part of any doll’s bathroom, the “John

The Toilet

You can make the toilet using some objects that would normally be found in your bathroom. First, for the tank, paint an empty soap box white, or whatever color suits your fancy. After painting the box, cut a small round flap/opening in the box to serve as a toilet seat lid. For the flusher, use a cup hook wrapped in tissue paper.

Now comes the bowl. For the bowl, get the top from an individual plastic juice carton and invert it. Picture is included for a clearer idea. Glue all parts to a piece of cardboard for easy “remodeling.”

The Tub

For a rectangle tub, use a painted tea box with the lid cut from the top. Leave little edges on the lid to flip out and form the tub lip. For the water faucet aspect. Insert a cut bendable straw and push pins for knobs.

You can also create a circle spa tub using paint and an old individualized sour cream container. It comes with everything built in but the jets and seat. You can make the seat out of a trimmed down plastic cup and jets can be either drawn in or made using the back side of brads inserted into the plastic.

The Sink

Last but of course not least is the sink. This again can be made using a tea box, cut in half and placed on end. Use a plastic bottle cup to trace a spot just big enough for it to fit tightly in and then cut from the tea box a place for the sink basin. Use the same method as the tub for the faucet.(Bendable straw and push pins)

These are just a few of the many ideas you can come up with for your dollhouse bathroom. A bath rug can be made from a piece of an old cut up washcloth. Use a tea box upright with some fabric and a straw (rod) for a shower. The more ideas you discover on your own the more unique it will be for you.

Start with an empty orange juice carton for the counter and make the sink using pudding cups and a bendy straw faucet. Use two pudding cups for a double-wide sink. Bottle cap tops and liners and buttons make excellent dishware.

For a handy-dandy stainless steel stove “set a tea box on end, then cut off and discard the top half. Cut a door opening with a window in the front panel and wedge plastic berry basket ‘racks’ in the oven. Glue on pieces of cardboard for a stove top and control panel, then cover the entire stove with aluminum foil. Attach paper fastener ‘controls’ glue on bottle cap ‘burners’ and tape on a paper clip ‘door handle’.” Picture included.

For kitchen chairs use sections of a paper towel roll as the base and use a section of an egg carton as the chair, you can even make a milk jug cap the “cushion.”

The table is simple as well. You can use the bottom end of a plastic drinking cup cut in half or a box or carton of some kind and cut out in a rectangle table shape, then paint to cover the carton design. Use foam for the table top.

For the refridgerator use a tea box set lenthwise. Cut out doors and then create shelves by cutting straws into sections and make shelves out of clear plastic berry boxes. Once again, use paperclips as door handles.

These are just a few ideas to get your homemade dollhouse kitchen started. You can also make a floor mat using scraps of fabric or lightbulb casings.

During the next few weeks we will be giving you ideas for each room so that you can have something as simple as one bedroom cabin to as luxurious as a castle built for a princess. Let’s get started with the house itself.

We have found that in general bigger is better! You will want to start out with the biggest empty box you can find, within reason of course. We suggest using a large refrigerator box and cutting off one of the long sides, leaving a “look-down-upon” feel.

Now that you have your frame, it is easy to put in doors, walls and even windows using scissors or box cutters. (Be sure to help your children with this step. You can even add paint, “wallpaper” and even siding by cutting out magazine clip-outs or craft paper and glue. You could also add windows and doors to rooms by the same “paste on” method. Walls of course can be added by using leftover box parts.

Making the walls snug, but not glued together will make them adjustable as well, adding even more fun and variety.

Now that you have the general idea of what you want to do, start gathering items. You can use anything from emptied perfume bottles, to buttons, to bottle caps. Scraps of fabric make good rugs and carpets. Egg cartons, q-tips, toothpicks, matchsticks and even paperclips can find a home in your homemade dollhouse. Just use your creativity.

Don’t forget the best part. When you are done, it is already mostly put away. It’s in a box! Just find a place to store it and you’ll be ready for when you want to pull it out again.