How do I Make a Munchkin Village?

Make a munchkinland setting for your favorite Wizard of Oz Characters.

Steven Sisters spent 18 months building a scale model of the Munchkinland set to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the release of the MGM movie "The Wizard of Oz." You can use his techniques to build your own version of Munchkinland. This would be a great background for your collection of "Wizard of Oz" dolls. You could also use it for a playscape for your children's "Wizard of Oz" toys.

Things You'll Need

• Styrofoam
• Paint
• Paintbrushes
• Cardboard mailing tubes
• Straw
• Glue
• Markers
• Silk flowers
• Cardboard
• Miniature bird nest
• Miniature eggs

Instructions

1. Use a sheet of 1-inch-thick Styrofoam for a base. Mark the placement of the house around the edge. Paint the yellow brick road in the center. Add a lake of blue paint with green lily pads, if desired.

2. Make the houses from sections of round cardboard mailing tubes. Cut windows and doors in the tubes. Outline the doors and windows with brown marker to make them stand out.

3. Cut cones of Styrofoam for the roofs of the houses. "Thatch" each house with straw. Use glue to attach the straw so that it radiates out from the center of the roof. Trim the edges of straw evenly, leaving deep "eaves" sticking out beyond the edge of the roof. Glue the roofs to the houses.

4. Glue the houses around the edges of the base. Elevate some of the houses on pieces of Styrofoam to create a multilevel effect. Stick the stems of silk hollyhocks into the Styrofoam around the houses. Add other flowers as desired.

5. Glue a miniature bird's nest with eggs onto the roof of one of the houses. Add accents such as bridges, staircases and miniature mailboxes, as desired. These accent pieces can be purchased ready made or cut out of cardboard and painted.

Tips & Warnings

• Keeping everything in scale is the secret to a good model. Start with your dolls, and build the houses to fit them.

• If you are building a playscape for children, paint the roofs brown instead of thatching them. The project will be quicker and sturdier.

• This model is for children over 3 years of age.

• Use only non-toxic materials when building for children of any age.

References

• Beyond the Rainbow 2 Oz: Munchkinland in Miniature