Vivi, from the UK, kindly shares her 2nd article…

What did you do?

  • I started by cutting out the door and window in the cardboard, as shown in the photo.
  • Then, I cut out the hole in the cardboard to put the hidden compartment for the chalks.
  • I then cut out holes in the cardboard for the shape sorter (i used the shape itself as a template to cut the shape’s holes).
  • It only cost a little bit to buy the black chalkboard sticker and the decal stickers to put around the house.
  • I printed the duck address and my daughter’s name myself using labels.
  • The door handle was made from a keyring and I used the leftover cardboard to make the postbox to put the chalks in – which was accessible from outside or inside the house.
  • The chalk marks easily wipe off with just water.
  • I left some plain cardboard inside the house, which my daughter put her stickers all over.
  • The great thing about it is not only is it upcycling from cardboard but after she finishes playing with it, it will easily fold and store away.

Do you have any tips to help other people do something similar?

My tip to make it stronger is to cut out an extra window template to glue together to the actual window – so it, kind of doubles up, so it won’t easily break when children open and close it a hundred times!

What is next?

We are thinking of making an extension to her house, like maybe a tunnel entrance on the back of the house.

My name is Vivi. I originally came from Indonesia but moved and now live permanently here in the UK with my partner and my, almost, 3-year-old daughter.

How are you finding being in the house a lot of the time?

As we are used to it now, I really enjoy being housebound with my daughter. We try to do fun activities every day and go for short walk in afternoon. We collect and blow the dandelions that we find on our walks.

Do you have any tips for others?

Just try to enjoy the time you have together and try not to stress out too much.

How has being part of the community helped?

I love how it allows people to share ideas and inspire others to do great activities. I found a few ideas that I wanted to do myself in the housebound group.

I think it is brilliant 🙂