Turn Your Family’s Wooden Playhouses Into An Awesome Alien Retreat
Posted by admin on Nov 22, 2010
When wooden playhouses are invaded by “alien life forms” it is sure to take on a whole new look and feel. Your little one will have tons of opportunities to defend the universe from these space invaders after you make a few modifications to his or her playhouse to bring it up to “space station” specs. It doesn’t take too much to transform a kids playhouse into an alien retreat or extraterrestrial landing pad, but it does take a little creativity and willingness to let your child’s imagination run wild.
Here are a few tips for making the change:
1. They have to be able to dress like an alien! Together, with your child, shop at yard sales or thrift stores where you can find costumes or different odds and ends that can be glued on or sewn onto fabric to create really weird alien costumes. It’s amazing what you and your little one can put together using items such as glittery ornaments, shimmery or extremely patterned fabric scraps, hats, fake gems, and headbands. Remember, there are no rules for what an alien looks like or how it dresses. So, give your child free reign and don’t forget to make sure that there are plenty of mirrors or a reflective surface in his or her wooden playhouse that will allow your little alien to see how cool he or she looks!
2. Have lots of “spacey” stuff hanging from the ceilings that will make your little alien feel right at home in their wooden playhouses. Star shaped beads that can you can string together, along with large balls that look like or can be painted to look like planets, will be really cool as your kids run and explore in their wooden playhouse.
3. Create hiding spaces where you can put little non-perishable treats or “alien snacks” for your kids to discover. One of the most parts of being an alien is eating off the wall stuff. Your child and his or her friends will love going into the playhouse searching for alien bites! You may even decide to decorate a disposable cooler to store drinks or other fun stuff.
Painting the wooden playhouses orbital colors like orange, yellow, and bright green will add to the overall alien ambiance of the play space. Also, choose furnishings such as little chairs and tables that can accented with alien themed pillows and accessories. Your child will marvel at how fun it is being an alien in a strange land like Earth. After his many earthling adventures, his inner alien will need a place to relax and unwind in style!
Wooden Playhouses Are Wonderful Donations For Non-Profits
Posted by admin on Aug 21, 2010
Who thinks wooden playhouses makes an optimal gift for youth based programs? Family oriented non-profit organizations, of course. That’s why people that desire to donate to a local not for profit or social service agency should seriously consider purchasing one of these fun, educational, and therapeutic play structures.
Here are a few reasons why a kids playhouse works marvelously for these hard-working groups:
They can be used by a myriad of children. Unlike some toys which are limited to one or two kids, a kids playhouse can keep multiple children engaged at the same time. Because most non-profits that have multiple families with multiple children to entertain, they need toys and play structures that can hold up to a whole bunch of children playing with it at once.
Families appreciate the distraction that wooden playhouses can provide as the social workers are helping them to get the services that they need. Whether the family is displaced or simply in need of mentoring services for their children, having access to something fun like a kids playhouse is a welcome relief from the seriousness of their condition.
They can serve as a great place for social workers to reach out to children in a comfortable and less formal environment. Talking to a child that is sitting across a desk is not always the best way to interact with young children. Many non-profits understand the value of having a really cool play structure like a kids playhouse where they can meet new clients, encourage social interaction with other children, and most importantly, provide a place for the child to run and explore.
While a wooden playhouses may not seem as important as a financial contribution, its value can far exceed just dollars. When you have an opportunity to give to a local agency, call them up and ask them if they could use a kids playhouse. It may be one of the best and most rewarding calls that you will ever make knowing that your contribution is being used and loved!
Styling Wooden Playhouses For Little Train Fans
Posted by admin on Aug 17, 2010
When decorating wooden playhouses, sometimes the best looks and themes are not always the cutesy or predictable ones. For some children, their outdoor playhouse will be much more interesting and exciting to play in if it truly reflects their hobbies and interests. That is the case for collaborating with your child to style his or her playhouse into a real train fanatics play space. Here are a few design strategies for those that just love trains:
1. Build an operable model size train set into the walls. Imagine how cool it will be for your little one to have a train that actually rolls circulating around his or her kids playhouse. To accomplish this, you will need to create a platform around the structure that is securely fastened with some type of brackets. Select a train that your child will be able to handle without your help and place the train at a height that won’t impede play. If having it travel around the wall is too challenging, then, use the loft space and let it circulate there. Either way, your child will love seeing the train moving in the playhouse.
2. Give your child plenty of train inspired clothing to dress up in. From overalls to the fancy conductors suit that they see on children’s shows like “Thomas The Tank Engine”, just being able to dress the part will bring a smile to your child’s face. It will make the train experience seem more life-like and fun.
3. Decorate wooden playhouses with all sorts of vintage train memorabilia. Add in items like switches and controls that don’t actually work, but come from real trains. You should be able to find these type of items on a website like eBay or canvass your local thrift stores and garage sales for anything with trains on it. Whether you opt for curtains that have trains on them or shutters that can be stamped with trains on them, if your child is a real hobbyist, he or she won’t be able to get enough of having their favorite things all over their playhouse.
Making wooden playhouses into a train loving kids haven will be a fantastic undertaking. Let your child do some of the directing with regard to placing the trains and objects in the playhouse, and even consider allowing your little one to paint or stamp trains in different places on the walls and floor. It’s your child’s playhouse and their passion. They will be happy that you gave them a chance to participate and to make their space extra special!
Hosting New Years Parties In Wooden Playhouses With Your Children
Posted by admin on Aug 4, 2010
Who says wooden playhouses can only be used during the warm months? This is definitely a huge myth. Some of the best times that your child will have in his or her outdoor playhouse can happen when there is a little coolness in the air. One such event that could be totally cool for your children and their friends is to host their very own New Years Day Party in their kids playhouse. Sounds like a stretch, but great fun awaits your little ones if you try a couple of these simple party preparations:
1. Make sure that your kids outdoor playhouse can be heated, if it is cold out. If the space is small, a little space heater, such as an electric baseboard heater, may do the trick. A winter party event will need adult supervision, so you should plan to be there the whole time.
2. If you want to make your adult friends happy, set the party date so that it allows for them to get a little rest while you host the kids at your home. This could be an event that happens each year, and you could switch up venues each time. So, actually having it on New Years Day could work, as many adults will be just in from their nights out. Plus, the spirit of the day will still be resonating with the kids.
3. Make the party both fun and interactive. Encourage kids to dress up or provide a box of dress up clothes with top hats, costume jewelry, and feather boas. The children will absolutely love looking like an adult for the day! The games should be simple such as pin the sparkler on the New Year’s Clock or have them create a wall scroll with their resolutions. Kids have goals and hopes, too. This party is a great place for them to be able to talk about them.
4. Decorate the inside and outside of the wooden playhouses for the festivities. Serve sparkling gelatin treats and serve finger foods on fancy plastic silver colored plates. Give them clear plastic cups for drinking fizzy ice-cream soda punch.
Wooden playhouses are a fantastic venue for a New Year’s Day party for kids. It’s small enough to keep the mess that they may make contained, yet it’s just enough room for doing loads of wacky activities. One of the best reasons to branch out and use the kids outdoor playhouse in the Winter is that it’s really, really cool!
Using Wooden Playhouses To Make Things Homey For Foster Children
Posted by admin on Aug 1, 2010
Wooden playhouses are a part of many family environments around the world. Since the beginning of time, chances are, there has always been a space set aside for children to claim as their own and to imitate the daily routines of adults. This type of play place or outdoor structure takes on a whole new meaning when it is used for integrating a foster child into a new and unfamiliar place. Then, the value of that little outdoor playhouse becomes priceless. Here are a couple of tips for using an outdoor playhouse for integrating a foster child into your family’s home:
1. Kids wooden playhouses makes a fantastic space for meditating and getting a moment alone. Not only do foster children need some space that they can use to relax and free their minds, but most children need that also. While meditating for a child may not be the same as it is for an adult, but solitary play can be very helpful for a child. The kids playhouse provides the space for that to happen.
2. An outdoor playhouse provides a space that children can decorate to make it more comfortable for them. Some children have never had an opportunity to decorate a place as fun as a playhouse. Foster parents can use that decorating opportunity to interact with and encourage the child that has been added to their family. It allows for the child to be creative and to experiment with mood enhancing colors, which could be a wonderful outlet for a foster child.
Wooden playhouses could be a source for a major relationship breakthrough for a foster child as well as a place where he or she can find solace and peace. These are all a big part of the foster experience. The good that it could do that foster child and your family could last a lifetime!
Wooden Playhouses Encourage Children’s Love Of Birds
Posted by admin on Jun 24, 2010
Children are fascinated by wildlife, even in their own backyard, and bird watching is perhaps the easiest way for them exercise their curiosity about the natural world. A wide variety of birds visit or live alongside of us and provide many opportunities to learn more about them. Many times a parent can feel overwhelmed and not know how to incorporate their child’s love of birds into everyday play or a unique learning experience. It actually is easier than you think! You just need birds and wooden playhouses. Preferably, just one wooden playhouse that your child can use as their naturalist den with the outside of the playhouse as their bird attraction point.
If you follow the tips below, you’re sure to attract many different birds to the outdoor play house where your child can have a wonderful and fun time learning more about birds. As a parent, you will feel relief and happiness knowing that you are encouraging a life long, enriching learning experience in a safe environment.
Try these child-friendly tips that will surely help your little bird lover to fully enjoy and expand their fascination with birds.
1. Build a bird house. There are inexpensive and easy-to-assemble bird house kits available at local hardware or discount stores that can be painted. Kids will enjoy picking out the bird house, painting it and then putting it up near or on the playhouse. There are many different kinds of bird houses, so have some fun and research which birds you would like to move in to your bird house. Just make sure the bird house is high enough off the ground that animals won’t drive the birds away.
2. Bird feeders are essential if you want to encourage attracting more birds to the playhouse. The type of seeds that are in the bird feeder will dictate the types of birds that you will attract. Take your child to a discount store and show them the wide variety of seeds and bird feed mixes that are available and have them decide which birds they would like to see at the feeder. You may want to have several different feeders for different seed types (and thus different birds). Some birds such as Blue Jays are quite aggressive so a couple of feeder options for smaller birds may help.
3. Birds need water and if you have a bird feeder, you should also have a bird bath to increase more birds. You can get bird baths at hardware or discount stores. Many times you can find bird baths at thrift stores, if you wanted an inexpensive alternative.
4. Once birds start to come to the wooden playhouses on a regular basis, your little bird enthusiast will need binoculars, a bird watching field guide, and a journal. The most avid bird watchers cross off the birds, in the field guide, that they see at their feeder and bird bath. Your child will enjoy the challenge of identifying birds and marking them off in their own bird watching field guide book. What’s more, they will become excited and want to tell you which birds they saw that day.
5. There are many bird calling audios and videos available at the library or through a book store. Select 3-5 common birds that are visiting the playhouse bird feeder on a regular basis and find out what their bird calls using the materials from the library or book store. Have fun with this activity. See if your child can identify the 3-5 bird calls and then go to the playhouse to listen for these calls and verify visually if you correctly identified the bird.
6. A true bird naturalist will have an observation journal that they carry with them to record or draw birds of interest, the location of bird nests or newly hatched baby birds. A video camera is also a great way to record and observe birds, if your youngster doesn’t want to draw.
Parents can foster their child’s love of birds just with a few ideas to attract birds using wooden playhouses as bases for their young birding enthusiast. The next time you hear a bird call, don’t be too surprised if you little one is able to identify the call and point out the location of the bird while throwing out some fun facts too!
Ten Ideas For Customizing Wooden Playhouses
Posted by admin on Jun 6, 2010
What kid doesn’t want their own kids playhouse tailored to their tastes and preferences? Before building your own playhouse consider adding unique features, fun areas, and kid-friendly elements to encourage imaginative play. This will separate your child’s playhouse from wooden playhouses that are average or off-the-rack.
The following are 10 ideas that can make wooden playhouses go from drab to fab! Add one or more of these:
- Trap door. Kids love “secret” passage ways and hidden doors. Adding a trap door to access an upper floor feeds into this secretive kid-play.
- Skylights. Skylights are a great addition to a playhouse that typically only have windows. Give your kids a new perspective on the outside world by putting a skylight in their playhouse.
- Stilts. An elevated playhouse seems more like a tree house without the tree. Kids love being up above the ground. Why not give that feeling to them on a regular basis with a playhouse that is elevated?
- Fireman’s pole. Firemen are revered by children. How many times do kids play fireman when they are young? Lots! If you have an elevated playhouse, consider adding a fireman’s pole so they can be a real fireman when they play.
- Lookout tower. An enclosed or open lookout tower is something all kids would be envious of and one where they would use in multiple ways during creative play.
- Loft area. If the plans for wooden playhouses don’t include a second story, how about including a loft area so kids can have an added area to escape to when they want quiet time?
- Patio, porch or deck. Each one of these features expands and widens the imaginative play area of the playhouse.
- Pass through window. Kids have fun pretending to play “store”, driving through a fast food place or having a lemonade stand. A pass through window is perfect for these games.
- Built in bench and table. Many kids will want to spend time inside their playhouse playing “restaurant” or “house” and having a table and bench makes it much easier to play these types of games.
- Dutch doors. Homes don’t typically have dutch doors and because they are so unusual and different this is something that kids find interesting and desireable.
Before building wooden playhouses, go through the list above and determine if any of these features interest your child. You will be able to customize the playhouse to your child’s tastes which ultimately will make your child happy for a very long time.
Why Parents Should Buy Wooden Playhouses
Posted by admin on May 15, 2010
Wooden playhouses are great gifts to give your kids. We all are living a sedentary lifestyle and don’t enjoy nature’s company nearly enough. Sadly, this affects the way our children play, learn, and grow up. Children don’t generally opt to play outdoor games but instead choose to play video games, computer games, or listen to their ipods. So to encourage outdoor play, wooden playhouses are wonderful ways to get your child outdoors and enjoying nature.
As a parent, choose a childrens playhouse that is durable, environment-friendly, and easy to repair. Here’s why:
Durability is one of the primary reasons when buying a wooden playhouse versus other materials like metal or plastic. Metal can rust and form harmful edges and plastic can crumble in the sun if it is not UV protected. Proper care and maintenance, can prolong the life of a wooden playhouse for several decades.
Wood is an environment friendly material, which returns to the soil after it is decomposed. Plastic or metallic playhouses aren’t as environmentatlly friendly.
It’s easier to repair wooden playhouses compared to a plastic or metal playhouse. Wood can be easily cut into pieces and crafted to the desired shape much faster than other any other materials such as plastic or metal.
Wooden playhouses are excellent for kindling your children’s imagination, help your child develop good interpersonal relationships while interacting and playing with other children, and encourage your child to spend quality time in nature’s company.
A Cute Kids Playhouse Just Like Hansel and Gretel’s
Posted by admin on Apr 24, 2010
Check out this cute kids wooden playhouse that could be Hansel and Gretel’s!