How to Make a Model Log House
When immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe came to America in the 1600 and 1700s, they brought their skill as stone masons with them. Because trees were in abundance, they adapted logs and built log cabins and houses. In the 1700s and 1800s, settlers built their log cabins from the trees they cleared from their property. When Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky in 1809, his family lived in a log cabin. You can create your own bit of history by creating a model log house. It is a craft that you can do with your child.
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Things You'll Need
- Shoe box
- Pencil
- Ruler
- Scissors
- Cardboard sheet
- Hot glue
- Box cutter
- Hedge cutters
- Twigs
- Acetate (optional)
- Small cardboard box
- Pebbles
Instructions
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1
Draw triangles on both of the short sides of the box. Measure down one inch from the flap folds on the long sides of the box. Cut along the lines you drew with a box cutter. The triangles form the eaves of the log house.
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2
Draw windows and a door on the cardboard box. To make sure your lines are straight, use a ruler. Cut along the lines with a box cutter. Make sure you leave one of the long sides for the door uncut so you can open and close it like a real door.
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3
Cover the windows with acetate. Cut the acetate so that they are slightly larger than the windows and tape them over the windows on the inside of the box.
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4
Cut twigs to length and glue them with hot glue to the outside of the log house. How you arrange the twigs on the log house is up to you. You can have them all running horizontally, all the way around the house. Or, your can have the twigs beneath and over the windows run horizontally, and the twigs between the windows running vertically
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5
Fold the cardboard sheet in half lengthwise. The cardboard sheets from store-bought shirts work well for this application.
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6
Cut a small cardboard box to size for your chimney. Cut triangles in the bottom of the box so it fits on the peak of the roof. Glue the boxes together.
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7
Glue pebbles to the chimney to simulate stone, then glue more twigs to the roof of the house. The direction the twigs run can be either horizontal or vertical. Add a door knob to the door by cutting off the end of twig and gluing it on the door.
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Tips & Warnings
Make sure you glue the twigs near the door far enough away from the hinge side of the door so that you can open and close it.
References
- Photo Credit log cabin image by Allyson Ricketts from Fotolia.com
