Living as a kid in the country meant playing on pond banks and running through fields. We never had a playhouse, although one of my friend’s older brother did build a treehouse where he kept his Playboy magazines. We really weren’t welcome in his arboreal abode and I was plenty okay with not climbing up into that musty dark space. It wasn’t exactly the Playboy Mansion, but if they utilized the same housekeeping methods, I can understand how all those people got sick there recently.
Modern Kiddo has a retrospective of playhouses old and new. The images cover many eras of play spaces for children. From those temporarily fabricated out of a sheet over a frame to the structure above to basically a cardboard box with faux wood grain printed on it, the older homes which include plenty of A-Frames, have a charm to them but can’t really hold a candle to the modern ones.
The modern ones are mostly premolded plastic so as to be safe and functional. There’s some “mod” in the modern too. And there’s even a Star Wars version included. The kid whose parents bought that one must have been super popular in his neighborhood.
However, I think they made a big oversight when they didn’t include one image from Pee Wee’s Playhouse or the Umbrella House.
