CraftyFileCo planning guide

Paper Dollhouse Pretend Play Craft Ideas

Choose a paper dollhouse playset around the story: serving bakery customers, organising a wardrobe or welcoming visitors to a castle. Build the main setting first and add only the furniture and characters needed for the opening scene.

Use the bakery for shop stories

The Bread Loaf Bakery has an open front, paper furniture and a garden square. Included pieces range from a bread shelf and brick oven to a counter, cafe table, stools and stand-up friends. Sixteen full-colour pages include picture how-to sheets and templates in A4 and US Letter.

Its supply list includes cardstock, scissors, adhesives, a ruler, an empty pen for scoring and a round tin for curling the roof. The listing recommends ages 6+ with a grown-up helper and describes the whole set as a three-to-four-hour project.

That makes it a project to plan in stages, rather than a quick activity before play begins.

Choose the wardrobe for sorting and dressing play

The mini wardrobe has opening doors, two pull-out drawers, shelves and a rolled paper hanging rod. Six dresses have fronts, backs and hooks; folded clothes become little boxes.

Its fifteen full-colour pages include a how-to page and fourteen craft sheets. The listing calls for cardstock, scissors, a craft knife for the heart window, a glue stick, scoring tools and a pencil for the rod. It recommends ages 6+ with grown-up help.

Treat the window work as an adult preparation task. Follow the supplied assembly order so the divider and shelves are in place before filling the wardrobe.

Choose the castle for a cast of characters

The castle download includes colour and black-and-white templates, a courtyard base, walls, a fold-down drawbridge, a keep and five towers. Eight stand-up friends include royal characters, a fairy, a knight, a unicorn and a baby dragon.

The listing recommends ages 5+, with younger children needing cutting help. Its materials include cardstock or thick paper, scissors, a glue stick, scoring tools and colouring tools for the black-and-white pages.

Build around one first story

Use this suggested sequence:

1. Ask what will happen in the scene.
2. Choose the set that supports that action.
3. Print and prepare its main structure.
4. Add the pieces needed for the first story.
5. Keep the remaining templates for later making.

A bakery, wardrobe and castle are separate purchases with different parts. They are not promised to share a dollhouse scale. Let each work as its own setting, and test any combined arrangement before assuming the furniture or characters will fit another model.

By CraftyFileCo · Published 2026-11-07 · Updated 2026-11-07