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welcome to our website of completely free natural world resources for teachers, schools, parents and children
project tree tree houses
To a lot of people there's something pretty exciting about building a house in the trees. Whether it is used as a place to hang out, a lookout post, a place to write or draw or work or think - whatever it's for, just being up in the air and among the trees can make it seem extra fun.
In lots of parts of the world houses are built in the air - either on stilts or amongst the trees - for very practical reasons too. It might be because it keeps people out of danger from floods, or keeps them protected from wild animals - or people from other tribes. It might also be because, when the forest trees are very thick it can be very dark all the time at ground level,
but much nicer and lighter higher up in the trees.
It may be that you are lucky enough to have a tree house yourself, or you would like one, or you would at least like to design one. This page is all about just that: it's about you seeing some really good ideas for tree houses, and then having a go at designing your own.
Click on these images
to see some of the amazing real life tree houses that have already been designed and built around the world
Now that you have lots of ideas buzzing about, its time to get designing your own tree house. Go wild, be inventive, make it beautiful, make it weird: tree houses come in every shape and size (and type of tree), so with tree houses, the sky really is the limit, and anything goes.
You can either design your house on a tree you draw (or paint or print or collage) yourself, or click the picture on the right to download a design sheet we've already made for you.
Other ideas to try:
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How about making a model from your design? You could use cardboard, wood, plastic toys - whatever comes to hand. Check out the tree house models in the pictures below.
click here to download tree house design sheet
Now look at these designs and drawings of tree houses. Do they give you any ideas of your own - ideas for the tree house of your own imagination?
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Or what about getting more technical and showing how your treehouse might work if people want to live in it? Where would they store things, does it have different rooms, what activities could you do in it? You might want to do a cut-away diagram, or quick labeled sketches, or maybe a model again...