For January, we are asking you to send in a picture of children playing or where they might have just been. For full instructions, look here.
It may take a few days for your pictures to be posted. After the end of the monthly challenge, you will receive a small thank you gift for participating.
Here are the beautiful submissions:
____________________________________
____________________________________
From Peggy McLoughlin:
This refurbished house of mine is always open for playtime. Even when it’s supposed to be nap time. Jack is trying to shoot Jill with gummies over the banister while his ‘Lita gets the babies to sleep while she knits.
____________________________________
From Maria Florencia Alecci:
I want to share my tiny doll house from a name kit. In the picture it is also a chair. That chair is from 1996. It was the first miniature kit I ever built.
____________________________________
From Sandra Whipple:
This is my Child’s play project. It uses an assortment of items from our Retreat Into Miniatures table gift bag from a couple years ago.
____________________________________
From Julia Greenhalf:
Not sure this counts but the only miniature I’ve got with a child in it!! Loved making this room box.
____________________________________
From Lori Kagan-Moore:
"Bad Kitty" at The Great American Dollhouse Museum in Danville, KY. On this day, Gregory has wreaked havoc on every room in this large dollhouse by artist Liz Le Bosse. Here we see him dying the cat with his Easter egg coloring kit. Boy/Cat/Dye kit-- Alice Zinn, Chests--Tony Jones, Bed--Ruth Bradley, Chair-- Nicole, Walton-Marble, Staging--Lori Kagan-Moore
____________________________________
From Susan Sharratt:
One year, my mini club, Startin' Small decided to make our annual project a "street of shops". We were each to make the shop with a large front window so everyone could peep inside. I was inspired to make a toy shop because I had purchased a Pinocchio on a trip to Italy that year. He sits in front of the shop. When the club had our holiday party in December, everyone knew I was making a toy shop, so in our "swap" I received lots of cute toys, all of which reside in the shop. I don't use people in my projects, but I can imagine a group of children peeking into that window and yearning to enter and shop.
____________________________________
From Ruth Goodger:
____________________________________
From Paula Richards:
The scene on my bookshelf depicts children having played under the kitchen table of my 1940’s kitchen. My great niece and nephew, Sofia and Teo, are pictured peeking through the window.
____________________________________
From Amy White:
Good old-fashioned playtime. Inspired by the January challenge, I assembled a kit that I had for almost 2 years and dressed some dolls that I have had longer than that.
____________________________________
From Lee Weinstein:
Attached are 2 photos of my very first Convention project done in the late 80’s - early 90’s in Chicago. I filled it with stuff I bought in the wondrous sales room. When I found the doll I named it “But there’s nothing to do”!
____________________________________
From Elizabeth Cockrum:
Attached are 2 photos. Sister is setting up monopoly game waiting for her brother to come play with her. Brother is playing with toy train.
____________________________________
From Sally Lonn:
From a house party the Thursday night project was a playhouse. I repainted the house in Gabi’s favorite colors of pink and purple. I included lots of toys she loved around five years of age. Gabriella is now 15. She still loves unicorns. pandas, games, art of any kind and loves her American Girl dolls. I included dress up, painting and pretend cooking with a tea party. The puzzle on the table spells out her name. This is now at her house with much love created by Grammy.
____________________________________
From Vicki Scidmore:
My first picture is a playhouse for the little girl. The kitchen cabinet is a Hallmark ornament and the various plastic pieces are from a junk box at a doll show. (The mop is from my own childhood toy set, I always have saved mini's!). The second picture is made in a "book" box from a convention. The bed kit and doll in box were prizes from an early fundraiser (rubber duck race maybe). Various toys and accessories have been added over time.
____________________________________
From Dori Allard:
First one is my little girl bedroom in my dollhouse. She can't decide which doll to play with!Second one is her older sister, studying with a friend. Also in my dollhouse.3 and 4 are a Peter Rabbit themed room box!
____________________________________
From Kirsten Smolensky:
Below are two pictures, one of Santa‘s workshop where the toys are being made. The second is a small child sitting on the sofa in Santa‘s house.
____________________________________
From Kim Fitzsimmons:
Georgie’s Room (Stephen King House) - Georgie is napping before he heads out in his yellow rain slicker with his paper boat. He will meet Pennywise the clown. Clowns decorate Georgie’s room, including one wearing a paper hat, just like Georgie’s boat. Not the child’s play most will submit. This one has an eerie feel as was intended in my Stephen King House.
____________________________________
From Carol Shea:
These pictures were the result of an announcement made on Labor Day before we were blessed with triplets.
____________________________________
From Chris Pecherzewski:
“Boys will be boys!”
Hey, Let’s play !!
____________________________________
From Elizabeth Lubera:
For the January 2026 “Child’s Play” challenge, I am submitting a child's airplane that I created in 1997 during a meeting of my WeeBees miniature club. The basic materials for the project came from a class at the 1997 NAME Convention in Kansas City.
The “airplane” shown here – clearly created by a child for imaginative play – is composed of miniature-sized everyday items that a child might find around the house/backyard. These include: wooden crates (for the body of the airplane), a Radio Flyer wagon (for the wheels), window shutters and a piece of aluminum siding (for the wings), a metal washtub (for the front of the plane) and scrap wood (for the propeller).
Given that I made the project for my grandson, Steven -- on the occasion of his birth -- I have added other personal touches to the project over the years. These include: a little bear/pilot wearing a purple scarf (the colors of his high school), miniature toys (a hockey stick, car and airplane), and a flag for the Detroit Red Wings (his favorite sports team). The miniature tools reflect his experience in home repair and remodeling. There is even a mini photo of him glued to the "plane"!
____________________________________
From Margaret Gordus:
Toy Shop I remade for my Great Grandson after losing my original in the fire. Many items are donations from" world of miniaturists" {Only through sharing can we really enjoy our treasures)
____________________________________
From Pamela Junk:
"Girls just wanna have fun". These Julie Stevens little girls are enjoying playing together in different activities all around the outside of a house.
____________________________________
From Connie Reagan:
Fun vintage toys and toy box by Grandgirl Miniatures.
____________________________________
From Elaine Levine:
Attached is a picture of a young girl in her room - the family cat has just presented her with a gift of love -- a mouse!!
This was one of the first room boxes I made and was made at a St. Louis/Missouri State Day, probably in the 1980s. Most of the things in the box are things I loved to play with as a child.
____________________________________
From Melody Petlock:
Here is my kids' clubhouse from a True to Scale kit with lots of my own landscaping and embellishments.
I'm sending front and back views.
____________________________________
From Julia Tchikine:
This is the nursery in my dollhouse, where some small animals are enjoying a tea party together, and one is admiring the view out of the window. This was one of the first rooms I finished in my dollhouse, and I think it looks just as adorable now as it did when I finished it a few years ago!
____________________________________
From Cat Wingler:
Here’s a picture of toys I used to make when I used to make toys.
____________________________________
From Julie Stuckmeyer:
I rarely put dolls in my miniatures, but this room could be one of my boy's bedroom when they were little. Eric or Luke could be just around the corner with their toys left scattered about.
