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It is really important for me that my children have a good imagination and ability to make believe and play. Having a doll house give children a way to make meaning out of things that they have in their house. Giving them people in the doll house enables them to act out and discover things about relationships and language used between families and friends. It is really fun to listen to the conversations that Baby Bear has with dolls.
I was thrilled that we got the opportunity to receive this Magnolia Mansion Dollhouse from KidKraft.
It comes in an Ikea like flat pack and needs to be assembled. Mr. BBH & I put it together while Baby Bear anxiously watched. {Since she is old enough to help with small things, we let her turn the screw driver and hold things for us.} It was easy to assemble with a partner. There are a few different color screws and you need to match them up the the background color on the dollhouse before screwing using them since the directions does not tell you that. The finished house is well made and we were able to move easily from the basement to the girls room upstairs. The balcony and patio at the bottom are easy to remove to carry it.
Here is the KidKraft Magnolia Mansion Dollhouse all assembled in our basement. We wanted to put it together on the rug there and in a space where Mini would not get into little pieces before being assembled. Originally we thought to keep it in the play area; but, I was surprisingly thin enough to put in anywhere and it got moved to the girls bedroom!
My Grandma made me a doll house when I was little. It lived in my parents basement because it was so deep that there was not any good place to put it. It eventually was given away since it took up so much space. I love how this dollhouse is tall so you can see in the rooms but also has a slim profile so it can go in their room and not get in the way.
It has enough room for more than one child to play and 3 different levels of rooms to interact with. You can use them to develop question and answer skills with children. Ask things like where, what, why using the Magnolia house. For example, there are a lot of different dog images on the background of the house and Mini likes to find them.
There are a lot of moving parts that make it interactive. Mini practices her coordination by pushing buttons, opening doors and putting the dolls on different pieces of furniture.
Fun things to discover:
- The windows and doors open and close
- The elevator can go up and down
- The piano plays songs
- The light turns on and glows
- The toilet makes a flushing sound
Mini likes the sounds and it helps her small motor skills to play with the button.
The size of the house and furniture makes it really versatile. Many different kinds of dolls are usable with the Magnolia dollhouse, even Barbie fits in the bed and through the doors.
Baby Bear and Mini Bear have so much fun playing with the house. There are so many different things that I saw them doing while playing together. It is helping both Baby Bear and Mini Bear with social skills. Mini is learning how to play with others and Baby Bear is modeling family relationships with the doll family. They are both developing language skills related to family and interactions in their own way relating to the house, room, and family.
See the KidKraft:
