How To Make Pet Houses For Stuffies

Usually a stuffie is at home piled on a bed with its other stuffie pals. 

When they sleep, some parents and kids like to put them in a trunk, bin or tub. (And this is very sensible, because those stuffie collections add up!)

But what if there were a third option: a temporary residence — a plushie pied-à-terre — for animal toys during play time? 

This option exists, and I'm going to show you how to make it. It is a lot easier than it sounds — no T-square required.

What You'll Need

• empty tissue box
• scissors
• glue
• construction paper

How It's Made

Remove and recycle the plastic film from the inside of an empty tissue box.

Use scissors to cut all the way around the middle of the box.

If you're worried about rough, sharp edges, you can tape them down with coloured tape. You will have two pieces of tissue box, and you'll need to set one aside. 

Now on to the roof.

Using the other half of the box, cut off one of the corners to create a triangular prism. Or cut smaller prisms from both corners to create a double-peaked, cat-eared roof!

There will be leftover cardboard, which can be recycled or set aside for a future craft. 

Now that you have a roof, it's time to glue it to the base of the house.

After you've glued it and given it time to set, it will look something like this: 

Now it's time to get creative. Working with the little ones, ask them what their pet stuffie's name is — this can be a detail on the house! You can add shingles, grass and, really, go wild! 

I loved creating fun pet accessories like a food dish and a ball of string. And all that requires is is some cutting and gluing! And if you aren't a stuffie family, it could be a fun exercise to imagine the pets you'd like to have in your home and make paper versions! You could even make paper versions of your current household furballs!