Build a cheap and easy Den or Playhouse

Build a quick and easy den for your kids or friends to play in...

Step 1 What you need...

To start you will need:
//130 sheets of broad sheet newspaper
//A pair of scissors
//Some tape
//Coloured pens or paper
//A stapler
//Some paper plates
//Find a large open space  preferably indoors

Comments

[candis1966]

This is awesome i hope its as easy to make as it sounds love it

[wolf555hound]

I saw this on a kids science show. But they were stupid and I had no idea what was happnening. lol. Nice 'ible.

[Klaus Baude 123]

Was that show by any chance ZOOM?

[wolf555hound]

Ding Ding Ding!!! You, my friend, are CORRECT! hehe

[wolf555hound]

Wait, shoot, no it wasnt.....(i misread or im drunk on mashed potatoes...) It was Crash, Bang, Splat!

[Klaus Baude 123]

Well, they did make a playhouse EXACTLY like this one in ZOOM...

[wolf555hound]

Not surprising, ZOOM is way more popular that the other show, I have satellite and its a Canadian show, so not surprising. I used to love ZOOM, do they still make new episodes?

[Klaus Baude 123]

Nope. The show got canceled a few years back.

[gauky]

It was on a show called The Big Bang usuauly on CITV.

[ACKISSD]

Ummmm............Not big enough for a todeler even!

[P.A.Beard]

I have been looking at making this dome all day most of the other plans are very hard to follow this is not. Will be making a small one then a large one for a green house this looks great thanks very much... should of looked on here first ....

[Cricket_Lover]

I will try making a scale version of this. I will also calculate the dimensions for everyone who's asking.

[jeff-o]

Hmmm, I've got a ton of large cardboard boxes, perhaps I'll make them into a dome for my two-year-old. Thanks for the inspiration!

[prunedanish]

First of all...thanks so much for this. My kids and I started building one this weekend. The kids LOVE it so much I can hardly work on it, because they are inside playing in it...which is awesome.

I wanted to add one critical detail for people building this at home. I hadn't stopped to study the structure of a geodesic dome before starting this project, and the following instructions messed me up:

The topmost layer now has ten points. You now need to arrange tubes in an alternating fashion - two green from the first point, then one red, two green, then one red - all the way around.

because it DOES matter which point get the two long, and which the short.

I had a 50/50 chance...and guessed wrong...and the result is a FAR less stable structure, as the load is not carried to the floor without interruption. I have pics to show you what I mean. I'll try posting them below.

I marked in yellow where the load points end at the bottom the right way, and halfway down the wrong way.

I'm using fused plastic for my panels (fusing grocery bags into sheets from another instructable) ...so the whole thing has cost me the price of a newspaper so far.

Tomorrow I'll disassemble the struts and line them up properly...plus maybe reinforce a few of them to make them more kid-proof.

Once again, thanks for taking the time to post this...and feel free to use these images to clarify the instructions if it helps.

[Xerillum]

It's also a Cat Litter Beautification Apparatus!

[yu-gi-oh!!!]

THATS............Not much at all

[Annyoakly]

Why couldn't you use the same concept with PVC pipe and intersections, then glue fabric triangles on with adhesive that would hold both like gorilla glue fabric on the triangles so there would be air exchange (once the gorilla glue dried.) I am going to have a grandson, so I better remember this project. Anny

[MichelleComeau]

Just curious to know the approximate measurement inside, how much room is in there?

[cassinova]

This is a great instructable. I made it with my grade 1's an 2's when we were learning about the strength of triangles! Thanks:)

[jongscx]

.. Is that plastic sheet being used as a covering? I'd imaging that's an asphyxiation hazard, no?

[altomic]

holy buckminster fuller!!! - you rock

[wlai]

that's awesome! what material did you use for the panels? It looks very nice. How big and tall does the dome get when it's all finished? (Yes, I am in fact trying to avoid the math...)

[eskimojo]

My mom made one of these ages ago!!! It was the coolest thing to me and my brother, she was the coolest DIYer I have ever met... really resourceful too, if you got grass stain problems and have an artistic touch my mom always covered them up with cool drawings on our jeans instead of turning them to rags or other such disposals.

[Wasagi]

Amazing!! Something I actually have the materials to do!!!

[JesusFreke]

Cool! I may have to try it out sometime. Any chance of getting a better picture (larger!) of the finished thing? :)

[=SMART=]

a w e s o m e !

[Chicken2209]

I wouldn't use the word den, maybe playhouse...