You never outgrow creative play
Go ahead and buy that Lego set or doll house
I’ve always wanted a doll house.
I remember my young self coveting the Barbie dream houses that my friends had, and I remember wishing that my mom would get my sister and me a house for our little Glamour Gals (kind of like a miniature Barbie, in case you weren’t around in the early 80s).
The closest I ever came to having a doll house was when my sister and I tipped a cardboard box on its side and furnished it with towels folded to make a bed and a couch. It wasn’t the Dream House, but it did the job.
Even well beyond my Barbie years I wanted a doll house. I loved miniatures. Do you remember the movie The Incredible Shrinking Woman? There’s a scene in that movie in which the main character moves in to the doll house because it’s just her size. I loved that scene. It’s basically the only scene in that movie that I remember clearly, besides the end. And then there were books like The Littles. The Borrowers. And every literary mouse that lived in a cozy, furnished mouse house. These only served to fuel my imagination and my dream to one day have a tiny house in which tiny imaginary characters could live and thrive.
Over the years I’ve been able to scratch the doll house itch by building and decorating doll houses with and for my daughters, arranging the Christmas village every year, setting up a fairy garden every spring, and by building houses out of Lego bricks. But as wonderful as all of those little things are, they are not doll houses.
Even the walnut house I made in the days after my mom passed away (art is great therapy) doesn’t quite count. But it comes close!
These days, whenever I go to my favorite arts and crafts store, I almost always meander over to their miniatures section. I love to look at the selection of tiny furniture and accessories and to admire the pre-built samples of available doll houses. A girl can dream, right?
A little over a week ago, while I was looking for a table and chairs for the grandkids to put in the fairy garden, I saw that they had two of their pre-built doll house samples on clearance. The “Victoria’s Farmhouse” that I had often fantasized about bringing home with me was half its usual price! A mere $209.00, and I was sorely tempted to buy it right then and there. But…two hundred bucks is a lot to spend on an impulse buy, especially for something that most people would probably consider a frivolous purchase. And where would I put it? And what would my husband say?
So I did the sensible thing and walked away.
I kept thinking about it, though. Maybe the price would go down soon! I mentioned it, kind of matter-of-factly, to my husband, who shocked me with his response: “You should have asked if they’d go down more.”
But you don’t haggle at Hobby Lobby! Well, I suppose he would dare to try.
Then came this past Thursday. Hubby had the day off, and we were out and about running some errands, so I said, “Let’s go to Hobby Lobby and see if they still have that doll house.” And he agreed.
Guys. They still had it. And it was marked down to less than half of what it had been when I first saw it.
An hour later I was helping my husband carry that doll house into the storage room.
I couldn’t help but wonder why he was so cool about this whole thing. I think it’s because he had promised to help me build one from scratch, and buying this one will save him some work. My son says it’s because he’s given up hoping I’ll outgrow my childishness. Maybe it’s both.
But here’s the thing. You never outgrow the need for creative play. A doll house is a toy, but it’s not just a toy, especially when you build it and/or decorate it all yourself. An unpainted, unfurnished doll house is an art project. It’s a puzzle; it gives your brain a series of problems to be solved. How will I fix the broken doll house door? What color scheme should I choose for the exterior? How can I create a kitchen floor that looks like stone tiles?
I like to involve my husband in those kinds of problems. He’s not as inclined as I am to be intentional about getting creative, but he loves to jump in if he knows I have a problem to solve. He was full of ideas on how to fix the broken door when we brought the Victoria’s Farmhouse home!
This project is going to be so good for our brains.
And, of course, I’ll involve the grandkids too.
Some books for people who like doll houses and miniatures
The Doll People by Ann M. Martin and Laura Goodwin, with illustrations by Brian Selznik. This is a middle grade novel that is an absolute delight! My daughters and I read it when they were young. There are four books in these series, but I’ve only read the first three.
The Mouse Mansion by Karina Schaapman. Lots of detailed photos to capture anyone’s imagination!
A Nest for Celeste, written and illustrated by Henry Cole. A sweet middle grade novel about a mouse’s search for a home and the friends she makes along the way.
I’m so excited for you! Haha keep dad young with your creative play!