Family Fun

The Things You can Build!


Do you remember Trolls? When I was a child they were called "Iggey's" I have no idea why they were given this name but they were hot! We had pencil top Iggey's, big Iggey's and small Iggey's with all kind's of outfits and accessories that rivaled Barbie's world. I even had a Batman Iggey, but most of mine were of the surfer & hippy type.

It was easy to make clothes out of felt for them, and you could do all sorts of fun things with their hair because some of them had really long hair. One thing they didn't have though was a house.


So someone came up with the idea for a troll cottage and did a DYI for McCall's Magazine (dating myself again). Mom and I decided to take on the challenge and the house is still standing today (although barely). The inside is in worse shape than the outside, but originally it had a ceramic tiled fireplace with a mantle, a table and chairs, a bed and paintings on the walls. We made everything ourselves.

I think I was probably 9 or 10 when we did this project. I remember mixing the plaster and setting the tiles in it for the door, walkway and chimney. We used frayed rope for the thatched roof; we frayed it, cut it and glued it on the wooden roof. The window boxes and shutters are made of thin balsam wood, cut, painter and decorated ourselves.

It was quite sturdy when we first made it and I got a lot of use out of it, but I had far too many trolls for one little cottage. Also, when friends came to visit with their trolls, well, you can imagine how jealous they were. So we improvised - we made a Troll Towers out of cardboard oatmeal  tubes, however many we needed.

That was easy: cut a window, cut a door, stick one on top of another and put a cone roof on it, then paint it. Sorry I don't have a picture of those because they didn't last as long being cardboard tubes. So next time you're wondering what to do for family fun, think of something to build together! Do it the good old fashioned way with a trip to the hardware store, or by improvising with boxes and containers that you would normally throw away.

Trolls made a short come back at some point in time, I think when my kids were little, but they didn't become quite as popular as when I was a kid. Do you remember Trolls or Iggey's? Have you built something with your kid's recently? Share it in the comments.