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| Photo of the Cardboard Pop-Up House |
I have never seen a pop up house made from cardboard before and neither had my mum. She was quite intrigued as to what it would be like as she said that at school they always turn old boxes into toys to play with..so she wasn’t sure what the difference would be. When I told her that this cardboard pop-up house costs £24.99 with free delivery she did think it sounded like quite a lot of money for what is essentially a type of cardboard box. I too thought it sounded like quite a lot of money and I was worried that it would get damaged easily because of the fact it was cardboard. I did however appreciate that the price was quite competitive for a unique toy that was not only eco-friendly but also
space-saving. Those two things alone mean that people will pay a premium price.
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| Photo of the Cardboard Pop-Up House |
The pop-up house arrived within a couple of days and we assembled it at home as soon as it arrived. It can be constructed really quickly and the roof is kept in position with a couple of cardboard tabs. To fold down the house is just as easy and quick too.
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| Photo of the Cardboard Pop-Up House |
Or first impressions were that we were shocked at how spacious it was on the inside and yet it folded down so flat! The house is fairly large when folded flat but you still be able to easily store it under a bed, down the side of a wardrobe, behind a door, etc.
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| Photo of the Cardboard Pop-Up House |
The quality of the cardboard is excellent and the house is really sturdy. The printing of all the pictures on the house is really clear and I like the fact that the colouring pictures are neither too girly or too boyish. I think both boys and girls would be happy to colour in all of the drawings on the house. One side of the house has a cut out window and drawings of a teddy bear and some flowers. The other side of the house has a cut out window and an opening door with a cut-out post box and drawn on door details such as door panels and door handle. Next to the door are drawings of house bricks, milk bottles, doorbell, lamp, window sill box and wheelbarrow which are full of flowers. One end of the house has a picture of window with curtains and a boy with a football holding a balloon with a dog beside him and a bird flying in the sky. The other end of the house has another picture of a window with curtains, a picture of a girl holding a kite with a cat beside her and a bird flying in the sky. One side of the roof of the house is covered in roof tiles and the other side has more roof tiles along with a full alphabet and the numbers 1-9 to colour in. As you can see…there is plenty of things to be coloured in so this should keep your child or children occupied for quite a while! Not sure you can really put a price on that! The best bit is that once they have spent hours or even weeks decorating the house they then can have the fun of playing in the house with their friends, toys,games, etc. It’s kind of like 2 toys for the price of 1!
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| Photo of the Cardboard Pop-Up House |
Even though I am now in my late 20’s I would still love to sit and colour in the drawings on this house. Unfortunately as this pop up house was given as a review product for the primary school I couldn’t get involved in the house decoration. If I’d had a chance though…I’d have loved to make fabric cath kidston curtains to stick on and I’d paint the entire house a pale blue colour and paint the boys balloons as polka dot ones. I’d then decorate each flower a different colour and stick on sequins and felt. To be honest…you can let your imagination run wild! I think a cardboard house like this would prove to be a fantastic birthday party activity but it would be equally good at keeping the kids entertained while you are making the roast dinner on Christmas day.
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The kids at the primary school have really enjoyed playing with the house and they play with it in their ‘fun’ time. They have all contributed to colouring it in and I’ve been told they are allowed to play in it 2 at a time and it doesn’t seem they have any complaints at all about the product. I am really sorry I haven’t been able to upload a photo of the final coloured-in house but this is because they school camera has a broken memory card which they are trying to replace but I’m not allowed to take my own camera in due to school rules.They are getting a replacement card so as soon as they can send me the final photo I’ll update this review for you…..so please, please check this review again in a couple of weeks..
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| Photo of the Cardboard Pop-Up House |
Overall, my mum has now decided that although £25 is expensive it isn’t too bad when you consider how much the kids love the house. She now appreciates the fact that the house is well-made and a unique idea and so that makes it a worthy toy to buy. As the primary school is aspiring to become an
eco-school it is great that the school are now able to let the kids play with a toy that is made from fully recycled corrugated cardboard that can be recycled when they have finished playing with it in months or maybe years to come. They are very happy with the quality of the house and they are pleased that there are no sharp edges to cut the kid’s fingers. They have said that they would like to see more cardboard designs being introduced. For example, a train, a bus or a robot, etc. One of the other staff at the school pointed out that not everyone has large boxes available for them to use to make toys (unlike the school) and so people can’t always make ‘play houses’ from spare boxes like the school have done before. They then said that this means that many people will appreciate the fact they can now buy their child a cardboard play house instead of having to try and find a big enough box to make one themselves.
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| Photo of the Cardboard Pop-Up House |
As a mum to a 2 year old child I can really see how useful it is to have a house like this that can be stored out of the way when not in use and that will keep my daughter and her friends occupied. I already have a pop-up tent style house for my daughter but I find it is such a chore to put in and take out all the poles each time she wants to play it. What I like about this
cardboard house is that you just undo the tabs and fold it up…it’s so simple. I would love to see them expand their range and start selling cardboard washing machines, sink units, cookers and things like that. Nowadays it is so important to be able to buy
recycled products that can be recycled again. So I am sure the market is there for them to start to sell more
cardboard role-play toys.
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| Photo of the Cardboard Pop-Up House |
If you would like to buy your own pop-up house please click
here to be taken to the website. You might like to know you can also follow them on
Twitter and
Facebook…it’s a great way to hear about all the latest news and offers.
* I’d like to say a big thanks to the team at Pop-Up House for sending me out the house for the school kids to review. They really appreciated it. 🙂
