About 2 years ago when we first started the dollhouse and were planning out the rooms, my oldest daughter Ava knew she definitely wanted two rooms; a bakery and a classroom. I kept my eye out for little school supplies, mini notebooks and basically anything that I thought would look good in a classroom and casually after a few months we finished the classroom and were thrilled with the results: But 2 years later, and the classroom was starting to go stale. We hadn't really done much to it and I could tell by the lack of playtime it got that she was getting bored with it. That obviously meant one thing, it was time to spruce it up! As you can see, the bones of the room didn't change. Same overall setup and we kept the cube bookshelf, teachers desk, trash barrels, american flag and students desk all the same. But we added a few more big pieces that hold lots of new details that I think really make a big impact on how fun the room is. So get comfortable b/c theres LOTS of little details in this room, and I'm going to tell you where I got everything! First are these bookcases. These are actually drawer organizers I found at TJMaxx. They're the perfect size for all our mini books. They remind me of ikea bookcases. All the books on here are real books except for the ones on the top right which are blank page notebooks covered in scrapbook paper (will touch on that in another post). The blue binder is from Molly's school set and the green binder came with a retired AG backpack set. The antibacterial wipes on the bottom shelf are real wipes that came as a keychain. Walmart maybe? The pink and orange boxes are paper mache boxes that they have at all the craft stores that I covered with scrapbook paper. The alphabet border is from the AG school set and the clock is a real working clock from Hobby Lobby. The flag was found at a random store around the 4th of July. Next we added 2 more of those TJMaxx drawer organizers turned on their side and 2 diy floating bookshelves to house more books and a few science items. All the books on the floating shelf are from AG. The mammal skull came in a tube with other various skulls from Michaels. I added the stand. I'll be making a few more and I'll share some more detailed photos on those in a later post. The dino skeleton is from Michaels in one of those fossil dig kits. The corked jars are from Michaels as well and they have various Gemstones in them. The plant, thats from target. Fish tank = Michaels. The mini scrapbook paper pad is from Michaels. So cute right?! The mini colored pencils came in a coloring kit in the dollar section at ACMoore. Mini crayon boxes are images printed and folded. Love that! The 3 pattered notebooks are more of the scrapbook covered books I mentioned from the other bookshelf. And the 4 books are post it holders from ebay. Go China! The two paint pallets are from Michaels. Paint brushes, paint tubes and drawing pad are all from AG Saige's paint set. The four paint sets on the bottom shelf are from Party city and the mini crayons are from ACMoore in another one of those art kits in the dollar section. More mini books from ebay. Tape dispenser and yellow lined paper pads are from Party City. Flash cards from AG Molly's school set. Mini mason jars are from ACMoore. Originally with gold lids that I painted. The mini tags are from Hobby Lobby. Stapler from Five Below. Scissors from various OG sets. Ruler from Kit's school set. Mini mechanical pencils from various AG sets. Two larger books are more of those mini post it books and the thinner books are notebooks both from ebay. Bags both AG. Green one is obviously Lanie's. We've got some fun stuff stored under the school desks as well. Laptop came with Lanie's bag. Various AG notebooks, folders etc. Pencil case came with the desk. The apple Macbook is a compact mirror from ebay. And more AG notebooks and folders. The geode we had. Magnifying glass is from Hobby Lobby. The glass really magnifies, it's metal and it has some weight to it. Love mini stuff that feels real. Gemstone card another ebay Gem. (See what I did there? Me so funny) Moving on. This may be my favorite item in the school. The Ant Farm. This was a fun little diy project. And super cheap too. For us, it actually didn't cost anything, but even if you were to buy supplies, they're pretty minimal. Perfect for our nature girl Lanie! Found our smallest unused plain frame which happened to be 3x5. Spray painted it green. Took a wooden paint stirrer stick and cut it to size for the base. Sprayed it green and glued it on with some wood glue. Cut the farm scene out of some green cardstock. And now the fun part, the ant trails. Just some coarkboard cut to size with some trails cut out by hand. And lastly, ants cut out of black cardstock. Viola. Doll sized ant farm. I'm pretty sure I've never seen an AG sized ant farm in any of the school rooms I've seen on Pinterest, youtube, etc and we love to have a little something unique in each room and for this room, I think this is it. Another new addition is the chalkboard from Hobby Lobby. Much more substantial then the white board we had previously. Bunting is diy and the little poster I just came across on Pinterest. Another one of the original large storage pieces is this wall cube box from Michaels. Theres a few of the same things on there but we added lots more like the glitter bottles, wooden letter stamps & washi tape (Michaels), jars with dice, dominos and colored mini clothes pins (Hobby Lobby), neon clay & mini crayons (Amazon) and a bunch more mini books (AG.) The plastic bins on the bottom have jute string, crayons, clips & extra mini tape dispensers. Another classroom favorite is the 3D lunch tray stickers. Perfect size for the desks and the pieces can all come off and be switched around. I got mine at Michaels but I've seen them at all the other big chain craft stores as well. Look how detailed they are. The lunch tray stickers also came with this School Lunchtime sticker which was perfect for above the lunch menu I made. Here's some of the subject the class is studying. The calendar came from Michaels, butterfly chart from the AG school set. All other images found through google. More mini hardcover books. This ocean life set is from Amazon. Pink handle basket from Hobby Lobby. I love a set of anything. But a set of mini hardcover books? Swoon. With the soft spot I have for mini books, collecting all the AG school textbooks was a must. One of the fun little school project my Ava & I put together were specimens for the "students" to explore. Here's Mia checking them out. Most of the little critters are from Michaels. Some we had on hand. The clear acrylic boxes came from Hobby Lobby. It's one of our favorite setups. So cute right?! And when the desk isn't filled with specimens, it looks similar to this. Globe is a christmas ornament. I think that covers EVERYTHING. Or almost everything. The details of a doll room are def my favorite and this room has lots, which is probably why it's one of my most loved rooms.
