A few weeks ago I hosted a recycled craft party for our weekly playgroup. I collect lots of junk and it's always fun to brainstorm ideas on how to use our garbage to create something new and fun. The web has lots of ideas and photos inspiring the creation of shoebox dollhouses for creative play. To make the home designing a bit easier on our young crowd, I precut the cardboard "floors" and glued them in. I had a variety of box sizes to work with, which makes it more fun and some smaller "homes" worked better for My Little Petshops and Polly Pockets. This, of course, appealled to the kiddos.
I outfitted our patio with bins of stickers, glue sticks, scissors and a variety of magazines and store mailers to cut out furniture, decor, bedding, pets, and toilets.
The kids loved wallpapering with my leftover scraps of Contact paper and had fun flipping through the magazines finding images to fit their floorplan. Some particularly inspired designers stapled boxes together to create garages filled with recreational vehicles and cars.
They turned out super cute and the kids had a great time making them. The project cost nothing and the kids loved incorporating their handmade houses with their well-loved toys. So easy and a great way to use your recycled items for some summer fun.