Project Hamster Playground!

[xStephC]

So after seeing that adorable cute video on youtube of a campbell russian dwarf hamster playing in a tiny playground I decided to make my own! I mean why not? I just got out of college for the summer, my summer camp job doesn't start until late June... I have plenty of time for some fun arts and crafts time.

So with the help of my 13 year old sister, we went to work. I'll keep updating the thread every once in a while until it's finished.

We started with some plywood that was in my garage. I don't know the exact measurements but it is pretty big, I'll measure tomorrow!

Then we used some cardboard boxes that we had for the sides and went to work!

We used either food dye with water or safe paint - either way just to be on the safe side Daisy will of course always be supervised when she's playing on this playground.

Picture 1:


We used a glue gun to glue the cardboard to the plywood and then duct tape for good measure. Again, she'll always be supervised when playing! Also, in the video it seemed pretty easy for the hamster to climb out, so we added popsicle sticks for added height. All in all, the walls were about 8 or 9 inches high.
Picture 2:



"Hmm... this seems interesting..."
Picture 3:


"The walls are done! Can I escape?!" The answer is yes. Yes she still can climb over the wall. Sigh!
Picture 4:


Picture 5:


After figuring out she still in fact, CAN escape, I stopped for the day. I'm probably going to tape up some more cardboard this time around. However my little sister wanted to go for a cute theme with blue skies, clouds, and grass for the plywood, so in her opinion adding blue cardboard with more clouds would look weird. To appease her I think I'm going to make the cardboard black and add some stars to make it look like outer space. I mean, that still kind of works? Right? Daisy will be supervised while she's in the playground but I would still like to make sure she'll spend some time playing around and not just trying to think of ways to escape...

That's all for tonight! Tomorrow my sister and I are going to start making the swing, a slide and maybe something else, but we're not too sure what else to add yet. My sister got her art teacher from school involved and apparently her teacher is going to try to help us make a slide, LOL!

Anyway, I'm super excited to start this project, I just hope Daisy will enjoy it!

[Teddy001]

Steph, It's looking SO CUTE! I really like the clouds, and outdoor theme. I'll be following your progress, as I'm also thinking of making 1 for my fluffs.

[Esmy]

I agree, it looks really cute! And you have plenty of time to figure out how to outsmart the escape artist. LOL

[Teddy001]

I just LUV the bright and cheerful color's! Makes me want to go play on that playground. LOL.
I was thinking, if you wanted to take it a step further, you could add a seesaw.

[Zoopism]

After I saw the video myself I had the same idea! Might be a while as I need some wood..
Great start, looking fab! Can't wait to see it complete

[Truffle]

Wow, it looks really great so far

[m00nbeam]

looking good

[humfry]

Looks wonderful! I just got the following memo from humfry

"want one!"

[Dotty]

Looking good so far! You could have a see saw and a sand pit!

[xStephC]

Thanks everyone for the positive comments! We'll be adding a sand pit and seesaw soon. Unfortunately the project has been put on hold for a week or two because I recently had my wisdom teeth taken out (ouch!) and have to rest for a bit. However we did make a swing, but we're not really happy with it so back to the drawing board we go! I'll keep this thread updated when I start doing it again in a week!