How to Build a Model Log House
A house-making craft activity that will surely get the kids involved is building a model log house. If you are running out of ideas for a school project or activity, you can make model houses to build towns or villages. You can even have this activity for President's Day wherein kids can build their own log homes and learn about the first pioneers of America. They can bring their model log houses at home to use as a table piece or Christmas decor.
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Things You'll Need
- Brown cardboard
- Scissors
- Pencil
- Plastic wrap
- Black marker
- Brown paper bag
- Glue
- Tape
Instructions
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Draw two rectangles with a measurement of 6 by 4 1/2 inches each, and two pentagons with a measurement of 4 1/2 inches wide each on a brown cardboard. Add two flaps to each shape by drawing a small rectangle on the upper and lower left corner. The two flaps which will be used to hold the walls together, must be drawn parallel to each other. The two rectangles will be the walls of your log house while the two pentagons will be the front and back part of your house.
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Cut out the shapes from the cardboard. Decide where you want to place your windows. Draw a small square on the walls for your window and cut along the lines. Cut out the square to create a hole for the window. Place your cut-out square on a plastic wrap and cut along its outline. The plastic wrap will be used as your window. Sketch window panes on the plastic wrap with a marker and glue it from the inside of the window holes.
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3
Attach the tabs to each side of the walls using glue. The tabs should be placed inside each wall to hold the walls together. Then, cut strips from a brown paper bag to make the logs for your cabin walls. Roll the strip on a pencil until it is a bit snug and glue the edge. Wrap as many pencils with the brown paper strip as you need to cover the walls.
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Glue the logs to the front, back and sides of the house. Alternate the placement of the logs in a way that the ends of every other log will go beyond the wall to connect with the logs of the other wall. The walls of your house would look as if some logs stick out of the walls to make it more realistic. In the past, American pioneers just piled up the logs to make walls for their houses. So some logs were longer than the other logs.
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Measure the distance of the side walls to make the roof. Draw a roof on the cardboard and cut it out. Attach it to the house. Then, draw a rectangle for your chimney. Cut it out and attach it to the roof cutting the base to fit the slope of the roof. Stick your model log house on a cardboard. You may draw additional designs on the door or chimney of the log house.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit old log house image by Yuri Bichkov from Fotolia.com
