Childhood101

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Make Your Own Tree House for Pretend Play

How to make a fun tree house as a dollhouse alternative for pretend play.

Almost a year ago I posted about the trees we were removing from our backyard (in order to replace with much more useful trees I hasten to add). Whilst most of the tree remains were hauled away to the green waste area of our local rubbish tip long ago, I kept a number of large branches with plans of one day buying a drop saw and a hot glue gun to make a treehouse for pretend play.

Well, good things come to those who wait and that day finally came!

How to make a treehouse as a dollhouse alternative for pretend play

And all it took were a few old branches, a drop saw, a hot glue gun, a little string and two self tapping hooks.

We added in our favourite Schleich animal figurines,

and created a cool oasis with a piece of blue fabric and some river stones.

The rope ladder is simply small twigs and string, attached with two tiny self-tapping hooks.

Treehouse play scene ladder

Less than an hour to make for hours and hours of treehouse pretend play fun!


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Christie Burnett is an early childhood teacher, presenter, writer and the editor of Childhood 101. More importantly, she is a Mum who believes wholeheartedly in the value of children learning through play, the importance of quality early education, and the togetherness of family.

Read more of Christie's adventures at https://childhood101.com.

Read the comments or scroll down to add your own:

  2. Michele Hill says

    May 2, 2011 at 6:51 PM

    love it christie - great job. This projects in my To Do list with an entire folder of images from blogland and just waiting on my dad and his handyman skills for it to be done. You have one lucky girl! PS we are a big fan of Schliech animals here too arent they great

    • Christie Burnett says

      May 2, 2011 at 8:32 PM

      It was sitting on my to do list for a good long time too, Michele, sometimes husbands need a little push in the right direction! LOL Dad 101 did cut the wood cookies for me (though I am sure that I could have handled the saw!) and then it was just me and a hot glue gun.

  6. sarah says

    May 2, 2011 at 8:18 PM

    Oh my you are a clever cookie Christie. The tree house is terrific! I especially love the little chimp sitting on an armchair up top. Very, very sweet. I don't actually even know what a drop saw is, but maybe we need one here too!

  10. Maureen says

    May 2, 2011 at 10:04 PM

    We have been working on the same project this year. A grandfather from our program has some big pieces of wood drying at his house and we already have smaller pieces and thicker sticks. Can't wait to put it together. Yours look great! So simple, so much fun.

  14. abbie says

    May 3, 2011 at 2:38 AM

    Tried making this for Christmas this year but it just isn't sturdy enough for the little, clumsy hands of my girls. Need to use bigger pieces and attach them more securely. Love the idea though!

  20. katepickle says

    May 3, 2011 at 11:24 AM

    OMG this is awesome! I've been eyeing off the very expensive shop bought tree houses for ages, never once thought to just make one myself! I think I might have to attempt this as a present for M's birthday!!

  23. sandy says

    May 6, 2011 at 3:18 AM

    LOVE THIS!!! How refreshing you are! Such a creative spin on playing with sticks! Thank you for sharing : )

  24. Tricia says

    May 6, 2011 at 7:23 PM

    That is Unreal Christy! I've been nagging daddy Eco to make something like this for the last year or so thinking that it would be a task that required nails and screws and all those fancy carpentry things i find so frustrating. I never thought of using a glue gun! Aren't glue guns wonderful!

  27. Sheau says

    June 17, 2011 at 12:37 PM

    What a great idea and beautiful creation. We saved our Christmas tree trunk and hopefully we can make something similar with that. Do you have to sand the blocks you cut?

  30. Marnee says

    October 9, 2011 at 7:31 AM

    I've finally got my branches...now to get to work. Will post pics when/if we ever get this project complete :)

  31. Jeremy Hendrix says

    December 9, 2011 at 5:20 AM

    Have some wood drying right now to have a go at making one of these. Did you do anything to seal the wood after you had glued the pieces together? I'm thinking of gluing it together and then coating the whole thing in a water-based polyurethane...what do you think?

  32. Cari Gouldbourne says

    March 4, 2014 at 5:45 AM

    This is amazing! I would love to make one of these for my 2 1/2 yr old. I am in love with these animals...much nicer than any I have found. Do you recall where you found them?

  33. Pat Matera says

    April 27, 2014 at 8:35 AM

    Your creation was such an inspiration that after my husband and I helped a friend cut down an overgrown bush in her yard, I harvested the branches that looked promising and dragged them home to make my own creative setting. I ended up with "The Land of Make Believe". My husband screwed the branches together to make them super durable, I added mini vines of ivy, built stairs, a rope ladder and populated it with my peg people . I am so delighted with it. I can't wait to deliver it to my grandkids in 3 weeks. It is easily disassembled as far as the decorations go so the "guys" can turn it into dino land or what ever and all can stretch their imaginations as far as they will go. Thank you so much!!!!

  34. Stefanie says

    April 2, 2015 at 12:22 AM

    What age group is this for? I have four nieces aged 9 down to 2. I was thinking of making this for all of them but unsure if one is too old and the other too young.

Trackbacks

  15. [...] Look how fun and gorgeous the play set! This is endless hours of animal play for your little people. If you are a DIY person, check out this amazing homemade tree house for the animals from Childhood 101. [...]

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