Wall-to-Wall Fun

This is a play space where kids will feel right at home: the very street where they live. Here, they can check the mail, take the dog for a walk (or draw him a pal on the chalkboard), hang up doll clothes on the line, play with magnetic fish on the pond, or open the door to see who's in the house.

Best for kids ages four and up, this design is fairly complex, incorporating many materials and a large wall. But you can simplify it to suit your family's needs, or personalize it with elements that reflect your own home--a felt-board garden or magnetic street signs, say--or invent a new scene altogether, such as a barnyard or rain forest.

Once you and your child decide which elements she'd like, lay out your design with masking tape. Paint on the big blocks of color first, then add in the details. As your child grows and her interests change, you can always paint over your original design or include new features. Consider adding a mini basketball hoop, a doorbell, a LEGO building base on a doorstep, or any of the other ideas you're bound to come up with as you go.

POND

Apply a circle of magnetic paint. To cover the gray color, we added a topcoat of light blue glitter paint.

MAILBOX

Cut the top off a cardboard milk container, then wrap the outside with electrical tape. Tape on a cardboard door flap. Cut out a flag and attach with a brass fastener. Mount on a cardboard tube.

DOOR

Paint a 2-by-4-foot chalkboard-paint door. To add a screen door, cut matching openings in two 2-by-4-foot cardboard pieces and sandwich screening between them. Hang with small hinges.

WINDOW

With electrical tape, we outlined panes on a 13-by-19-inch mirror. The shutters are cut from corrugated cardboard and hung with hinges. Kids can peek in the mirror or use it as a Colorforms board.

FENCE

To make a picket fence, simply cut the shape out of corrugated cardboard. Paint the fence and then glue on a few cardboard flowers, if desired.

DOGHOUSE

We painted a 3-foot-high doghouse on the wall with wall paint. A metal ruler nailed to the top holds movable magnetic letters for spelling out the dog's name.

DOG

The dog's body is painted on with wall paint. His head is cut out of felt, as are the pieces that make up his changeable face. We put a screw eye into the wall (where a stud is) at his neck, then clipped on a dog leash.

CLOTHESLINE

Attach two screw eyes to the wall (into wooden studs), then string a clothesline between the two. Using clothespins, kids can hang up doll clothes, artwork or small toys.

TAPE MEASURE

Using double-sided tape, vertically attach a cloth tape measure to the wall, starting at the floor. We put ours along the cork tree, so kids can track their growth with a pen mark or, for older kids, a thumbtack.

APPLE TREE

Cut a tree trunk out of cork, then glue or tape it to the wall. Paint the leaves on with wall paint. For a crop of pickable apples, we added Velcro dots and Ping-Pong balls, painted red, with Velcro attached. When kids are old enough to use tacks, they can hang messages and pictures on the tree.

OWL

Glue or tape on a felt oval. We added a felt owl (with a changeable felt face), but a squirrel or bird might be equally at home here.