The Joy of a Cardboard Box Play House

Who knew that so many memories can be made with a simple appliance or furniture box? Here are some stories of when me and my siblings had fun as children with cardboard boxes and what we made out of them! Read to the end to see the latest creation that I enjoyed making for a special little girl!

The First Cardboard Box Creations

When my older sister was barely two, my mom got a rocking chair. It came in a box that was shaped like a house and that box became the favorite toy for Christmas! My sister spent hours in that box playing house.

Many years later, my two older brothers and I spent a rainy day indoors and had to come up with something to do. So we took a box that we had gotten a large table in, opened it all the way up, stood it on its side, and made our own drive through!

Yes, it was complete with the two windows – one for paying and one for receiving food. We had ‘credit cards’ and a pin pad! We even had a drive up order speaker with a list of menu options! It was the best and was so special for us. We still to this day talk about our drive through that we made so long ago. Oh, how I wish we had pictures of it!

Creating Cardboard Memories for our Little Siblings

Fast forward to when my little sister was turning three years old and wanted to have a ‘housekeeper’ birthday. We went to an appliance store and asked for a box. My brothers then cut out a door, windows, and made a roof. We painted the house pink! We surprised her with laundry baskets, a broom and dustpan, and a mop. All toys of course, but her perfect size. That was the best gift ever! She ended up sleeping in it for months, making a bed on the floor of the house with blankets. She had the best naps in that house!

When my youngest brother was turning three, we kept up the tradition and made him a cardboard tunnel out of an appliance box and painted it with all the Cars characters. He LOVED it and he also slept in it some and played in it everyday, laying down and driving his cars around in imaginary games. It was sad when it fell apart, but it had made a lot of memories.

The Latest Cardboard House Creations

Nearly two years ago, I had the idea to make a special box house for a little one that I love dearly. Starting with a dishwasher appliance box, my brothers and I cut out a door, windows, and we made the flaps of the box become the roof.  It was a fun house that we painted red, black, and turquoise.

I somehow got it to fit into my car and then snuck it into the backyard. The birthday boy was overjoyed when he came outside to find a surprise house just for him. He spent many days eating his snacks inside of it! He and his siblings played and played in that house until they had to say goodbye to it.

Then just this last month, I was showing his little sister the pictures of his house and she said she didn’t remember it. That made me sad as I knew she had fun in it as well. She told me that if she had a house of her own, she would have ‘curtains on the windows and would put on puppet shows.’ She also said she would play with her kitchen stuff and her baby dolls in it. I knew that was what I wanted to make her for her birthday!

Making a Cardboard Playhouse

To make this very special playhouse, I started with another huge appliance box – this one being a refrigerator box! It was very tall, so with my brothers’ help, we cut off the top and used that part to make the roof. We simply taped the two corners together side by side to make the peak of the roof and made it so it could rest on the top of the box with cardboard flaps I later taped down.

I had a picture in my mind of how I wanted it to look, with a door and window on the front and more windows on the side. But one was the big picture window – perfect for puppet shows! It was created to be able to fold out and then fold down with a simple piece of wood and Velcro dots. We cut everything out and added duct tape where edges were sharp or the house needed extra support.

Pretend shutters were a nice detail on one side of the house. The window in the door was a perfect ‘orange slice’  window that added more character to the whole house. We had a door handle as well that we fitted with two pieces of wood on either side of the door.

I also wanted to have flowers in window boxes. So I found these on amazon and they turned out perfect. I just had to cut or bend the bottoms off to make them fit. I found these little wire butterflies and bees at the craft store and stuck them into the flowers. It was the perfect touch!

My mom had some gingham fabric that was so easy to turn into curtains! We just stapled it to the cardboard and used more duct tape to attach it to the inside of the house.

This is one of the coolest things about this house box! Knowing this box was so tall and wide, I needed to make it fit into my car, so we designed it so it would still be able to fold. We left the roof off until it was assembled where it was going to stay and I added some duct tape to hold it on. The window boxes all attached with slits as 3d puzzle pieces. The awning above the door was the same. It was such a fast set up and perfect for this size box as it was much bigger than the last one!

I loved how fast it was to set up and that it will be enjoyed for a long time! I was so excited to bring this vision to life and to surprise a very special little girl in my life. Seeing the excitement on her face and hearing her exclaim as she saw it meant so much to me. I believe she will have fun in it for a long time as she plays princess or ‘mommy and baby’ with all her dolls. She immediately had her doll high chair in it and was setting up her house!

It makes me smile just thinking how children love the simple things – how a cardboard box can turn into a house and bring hours of fun and the best memories! This was such a special project!

Have you ever made a fun surprise out of cardboard boxes?
Let me know what your child’s favorite toy has been – that isn’t actually a toy!