How to Make an Indoor Play House

Little children love to make "houses" behind sofas or under tables and on rainy days, everyone plays indoors. While mothers of the past may have groaned over these "messy" play activities, many mothers today are just glad to see their preschoolers off the computer and away from the television. You can make a cloth play house that fits over a card table.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Card table
• Measuring tape
• Old blanket or bedspread, or other sturdy colored fabric
• Old sheets or other sturdy white fabric
• Scissors
• Sewing machine
• Colored felt (optional)
• Permanent marker or fabric paint (optional)

1. Measure your card table's top. Using an old blanket or bedspread (or some other sturdy colored cloth), cut a square that fits over the top with about 2 inches extra. This will be the roof.
2. Measure the card table's legs. From the old sheets (or other sturdy white cloth such as duck or canvas), cut four rectangles that will cover each of the sides. Leave a seam allowance for the attachment to the roof and to the adjoining sides, and a hem allowance for touching the floor.
3. Choose one rectangle for the side that will have the "front door," and cut vertical slits from the bottom, not quite to the top. This is the door flap. Choose at least one other rectangle to have a window, and carefully cut a square or rectangle hole.
4. Finish the cut edges of door or window using hem tape or by cutting short diagonals at corners and turning a small hem back.
5. Using colored felt, create shutters, frames, or window boxes, and sew them on as appliqués. Using either large colored felt or more of the "roof" material, create a door that you can sew onto the door flap as an appliqué. These decorative touches are optional, but they add to the special feel of a "real" indoor play house.
6. Assemble the play house pieces. Sew the four walls to the roof, then sew each corner from roof to ground. Last, hem the bottom edge all around, after checking for an accurate edge length by fitting it to the table.
7. Use colored felt to create flowers or bushes around the bottom edge of some walls, and sew these as appliqués. Add detail, such as a door knob, with your permanent marker or fabric paint. These optional details will make your indoor play house not only a wonderful childhood memory, but an heirloom for the next generation.

Tips & Warnings

• A looser fit on the table will make it easier to take on and off.
• Using fabrics that are easily washed will make it less of a struggle to keep this play house clean. If your children are notorious for getting peanut butter and jelly on everything, consider not adding felt appliqués, which do not wash as well.
• Avoid decorations that might create a choking hazard for babies.
• Consider the safety of crawling or early-walking babies in choosing to create windows that might catch their neck in a fall.