When I was little, about 7 or 8, I had an actual house for a playhouse. Our family farm had a one bedroom house set several hundred feet away from the main house behind some trees. It had been built back in the early 1900's for the farm-hand to live in. It had no indoor plumbing, but it did have a sink (the water was caught underneath in a bucket). There was a hand pump outside for water. It also had an outhouse. The house was occupied most of the time up until the mid 1950's and then rendered vacant for a decade or so. It was finally sold to a neighbor and was moved and turned into a small lake cabin.
During it's vacant period, my cousin and I transformed it into a very fine playhouse for a couple of summers. My cousin was older than me and was good at improvising, we scrounged a few odds and ends from the house that my mother let us have. The cats and dogs were our kids and we had a grand old time in there. We did lots of pretending and dreaming there, many fantasy cakes and cookies and fabulous fun was had!
We were already re-purposing and recycling before it was trendy and I don't think we ever uttered the words, "We're Bored!" once. It was the best playhouse ever! I think my mother loved it; we were not underfoot and she knew we were safe and occupied!
The sweet little poem below sparked my memory of my playhouse, I hope you enjoy it and the cute illustrations by Lois Maloy.
Tell me about your playhouse! ~ Diane