Reliable Playhouse plans - and how can a 4 year old help?

[Dan Mages]

My 4 year old daughter nags... asks every day after school for a project. I think this spring I might give her a large project and build a playhouse for her and her sister, who is two. It will be right outside the veg garden and next to the screen porch, so a good place to keep her busy while I get stuff done.

First, I need a reliable plan... I found this one from Georgia Pacific. It looks good, but maybe a bit over structured? http://www.buildgp.com/DocumentViewe...elementid=5343

Does anyone have a referral to a reliable playhouse plan?

Secondly, she needs to do some of the work. What can I safely rely on a 4 year old who has a hard time following instructions to do?

Thanks!

Dan

[Ed Aumiller]

Do not have plans... just built it 4' x 6'

My daughter was almost 4 when WE built it...

What I did was start 3-4 nails along edge, gave her a child's hammer and told her to pound them in... she loved it.. it would take her 10 minutes to tap one nail in.. got bored.. she would play then come back to it and do another nail.. while she was playing, did most of the work... took us a long time to build it, but we got it together..

When it was time to paint it.. (It is PINK) she would paint (smear) for 5-10 minutes, go play, then come back (love latex paint, just stick brush in water till she came back).. 99% was painted while she was playing...

It took two weeks or more to build what was a 3-4 hour project... but she in now 9 years old and remembers building it and that she helped do it... it is still on our deck and will be for a few more years...

Let her be a BIG part of it... amazing what kids remember...

Great quality time with her...

[Mike Olson]

I built one a few years ago from fence panels.

I don't have detailed plans but I took a lot of pictures and wrote up some instructions. You can find it on my site, with a link to the Instructables where the details are.

Playhouse_FinishedWeb-medium-init-.jpg
http://www.bigdaddyoworkshop.com/woo...jects/logcabin

edit: as for what your daughter could help with, my Son was i think 4 when I built mine and he snapped every chalk line and "helped" stain the panels. He was also the inspector, making sure I did things right.