If my 5 y.o. DD has never really used her dollhouse...

[LuckyMommaToo]

...what are the odds she will? It's a large, wooden, Waldorf style one. Beautiful and expensive. It takes up a lot of space, and frankly, if it's not her thing, I'd rather sell it. So what do you think? Is she likely to develop a dollhouse interest in the next couple of years? Or would I have seen some glimmer by now?

And, BTW, if you ask her, she'll say she still wants it, but she's a hoarder, so it's hard to take her seriously. She also saves fluff from inside pillows, crushed leaves, confetti she found on the ground, etc. etc.

thanks,

-e

[FarmerBeth]

It's hard to say.  My daughter wasn't particularly into dollhouse play at age 5, but she seems to really enjoy her dollhouse now (at 9) for decorating, and she'll arrange the dolls and items in an interesting way to show a story or idea and tell me about it.  Kind of an arranged still life rather than a puppet show or continuing imaginative play.  I guess it's a matter of deciding whether you really need the dollhouse to be "played with" and how much you mind it taking up space.  Also, sometimes kids don't play solo with dolls or dollhouses, but will play it when other children are visiting, so there's that to consider.  I'm sure you're right that she'd say she wants it, since almost any child that age would say that.  If you're really thinking of selling it, another way to look at it is to ask her if she would rather have the dollhouse or something else (you would know what best) that she would rather play with using the money from the sale.  Maybe too much choice for a lot of children that age, but some would welcome the choice and answer honestly, or you could frame it not as a question but as a reason if that level of choice would be stressing to her.

[SweetSilver]

So much like our house!  Our "toyhouse" was not nearly so expensive, but it doesn't get played with much, either.  The girls are just not that into dolls.  The furniture gets played with now and then, but out on the floor, not in the house.  Let me see, right now there is.....wow, look at that.  A made dolly bed, several cut-from-a-catalog-paper-dolls and several pipecleaner dolls made years ago and are hardly recognizable as dolls.  Downstairs there are oversized beads.  They've never used the downstairs much.  Sometimes I set it up for doll play and park some animals downstairs, like for a barn.  Nope.  More play time is spent wrapping pipe cleaners... I mean *chenille sticks*.... around much worn plastic animals that have spent their lives buried in sand then washed off in the bath.  Most have a limb missing... or a head... gotta save those... Twist ties are a good substitute.  Or string.  Popsicle sticks.  What else have I saved because it turned into a toy?  Dollhouses are good places to tuck a basket of toys into when I actually tidy up that thoroughly.  At least they are not climbing on it anymore!  Ours is too cheap to have a 40# kid climbing on it, but if you have a really good sturdy one you probably don't have that excuse.

I say keep it anyway.

[Flor]

My kid is a hoarder ,too. This summer he was really wanting new Legos so he had a toy sale. We put up some posters around the neighborhood and I invited some friends of mine who have kids younger than him. He made $96! A friend had invited two daycare providers and they bought a lot.  Later I took a few bigger things to the consignment shop (hotwheels set, dinosaur toys, and a Leaptser) and he made another $32. He was totally happy and his room looked so much better. Dh thought we should get the money :) but I thought it was hard for him to give up his old toys and the point was to move on and clean out the room.

[BellaClaudia]

My daughter has one of those and three fisher price plastic ones.. loving home something.. huge ones...

so we will be keeping the wooden ones for heirloom and the others letting go..

She plays with plastic ones tons more as she has tons of plastic thingies accessories and people

to go iwth them and they in my humble op. are mmuch easier on kids then wooden house and furnithres

so the wooden will look spectacular at our huse at first and hten maybe she will take it with her

when she wil have her own home as a memoire..

I think that an old dollhouse is nothing like it to keep family spirit in ha ha ha..

we will keep it proudly displayed somwhere in the adult part of the home. It is beauty and it looks very antiuqe

[mamazee]

My daughter was older than 5 when she got interested in the doll house. At 5, I wondered the same thing, but now at 9 she does use it, and she was using it a lot around 7. I think I have often bought stuff for my kids to "grow into" and I've really bought it when they were too young for it. I put the dollhouse in that category. I got it when she was 3 and I don't think that's the best age to get someone a doll house.

[Imakcerka]

We turned our dollhouse into a bookshelf.  Some of the rooms have jewelry boxes or things they want to keep put up.  It actually looks really nice.  Also bigger doll houses are really difficult for little kids, they have a much smaller view of things and it can be overwhelming.  So maybe she does need to grow into it.