Students donate dollhouses to children in need for Christmas

SARATOGA SPRINGS, Utah — Interior design students at Vista Heights Middle School donated dollhouses to children in need. They designed and built them with their own hands. 

Interior Design teacher Elza Morgan said she didn’t like that her students’ hard work often went to waste after it was graded. 

“They’re ending up in the garbage or on a shelf collecting dust and the kids are excellent at them. So how can I use our funding better to make a more meaningful project?” said Morgan. 

Morgan said she thought back to a dollhouse her aunt gave to her when she was a child. It was a beautiful replica of her childhood home. The memory inspired a new project idea that her students could work on.

She ordered dollhouse kits and let the students build them. Then, they got to be creative in decorating them. With the cost of the kit, plus all the hours of work, these one-of-a-kind dollhouses could retail for hundreds of dollars.

Morgan couldn’t let them be thrown away once the project was graded, so she decided to donate the houses to children in need for Christmas.

Students talk about making dollhouses

Eighth-grader Madilyn Youngberg was assigned to work on the playroom in one of the houses. She said she had fun adding personal touches.

“When I was putting in the bean bag, I had to sew it by hand.  And I was just thinking, ‘Oh it would be so fun for a little kid to be playing with it,'” said Youngberg.

Ninth grader Elyse Mata worked on a kitchen in one of the dollhouses. She said that she made sure that it not only looked cute, but that it was also functional enough to be played with. It helped her be more intentional in her work knowing that the home would be given to children,

“It makes it more meaningful while you’re building the project because instead of just thinking this is just for a grade and nothing’s going to happen after it, to be able to put in more effort for the kids who are going to receive it,” said Mata.

The donated dollhouses are a tradition that’s been going on for several years. This year, Morgan’s class will donate nine of them. 

In the past, they have utilized local sheriff’s offices and school resources to find deserving recipients.  This year they used social media, allowing community members to nominate children to receive one. 

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