Well friends, here they are - treehouses 80 through 100…and with them comes the end of our week long ode to the arboreal abode!

1. Gifford Pinchot National Forest, 2. Orcas Island Treehouse, 3. Untitled, 4. Untitled, 5. Untitled, 6. Untitled, 7. Lake Highlands Treehouse, Dallas, 8. Untitled, 9. Untitled, 10. DSC_0317, 11. DSC00150, 12. Redwood 2-story treehouse, 13. Yellow Treehouse Restaurant at night, 14. Treehouse., 15. Treehouse in Madison Square Park, Manhattan, 16. Untitled, 17. Untitled, 18. Fur ‘n’ Feathers Treehouse, 19. High up, 20. Modern Tree House

Considerably smaller than their full-scale cousins, these treehouse playsets will fit comfortably inside your home. Find them at these independent retailers:
Three Sisters Toys
Blueberry Forest Toys
Tree Blocks

While I’m fortunate to have a lemon tree outside my kitchen window, it’s far from being a suitable spot for a treetop getaway. If, like me, you’re just not in a position to construct a treehouse in the backyard - perhaps you’ll want to consider a treehouse vacation? Amazing travel destinations around the world offer you and your family treehouse lodging opportunities.

• A wonderful list of international family-friendly treehouse resorts compiled by Cookie Magazine
• A wide range of options from the Chicago Tribune from $40. to $1,000. per night
• A ‘top ten’ list of U.S. based treehouse resorts compiled by America’s Best
• Treehouse lodging suggestions from The Treehouse Guide
• Extensive list from Odd Inns and Uncommodations

1. Treehouse_Nice, 2. Castle in the Sky, 3. Treehouse, 4. Yakel Village Treehouse, 5. Waal Treehouse in Holland, 6. Tree house…, 7. Treehouse overlooking the river, 8. Tree House, 9. Up in the Treehouse, 10. Jerry climbing down from our treehouse, 11. Kofi upp í tré / Treehouse, 12. 2nd February 2007, 13. firstlook_treehouse1, 14. Neiman Marcus Treehouse, 15. Treehouse at Sanchacho, 16. Untitled, 17. Restaurant at Onoyama, 18. Korowai Tribe Treehouse, Indonesia, 19. Untitled, 20. Untitled

So, you’re inspired to build your own treehouse. Where do you start? Here are a few sites to use as your jumping off point.

Do-It-Yourself
Treehouse By Design
Features do-it-yourself plans, step-by-step instructions, blueprint examples and construction tips - also offers book recommendations and instructional videos
The Treehouse Guide
Walk-through design process, tutorials and even a free set of plans
Treehouse Guides
Selection of downloadable plans for purchase including complete instructions including full cutting lists and detailed color diagrams

Call in the professionals! (Check out their amazing portfolios.)
TreeHouse Workshop (U.S.)
Offer consulting, design, construction and how-to workshops
BaumRaum (Germany)
Offer consulting, design, construction and how-to workshops - feature extraordinary modern designs
BlueForest Exclusive Tree Houses & Eco Lodges (Europe)
Offer consulting, design, construction and maintenance

It’s day three in our five day treehouse cavalcade! More images to inspire:

1. The Ultimate Tree Fort, 2. What’s in a Treefort?, 3. Treehouse 1, 4. T r e e h o u s e, 5. The Fort (Winter), 6. Wish I lived here!, 7. Tree House, 8. Enchanted Forest - Revelstoke - 8, 9. Treehouse, 10. tree hut., 11. Treehouse at Treebones, Big Sur, 12. Castle in the Sky, 13. Tree Fort — Redwood Park, 14. Tree House, 15. Treehouse, 16. House in a Tree, 17. Room with a View, 18. Treefort, 19. Magic in the Treetops, 20. 20080517 Makaino Farm 02

Want a treehouse but don’t have a large enough tree in your backyard? Consider the amazing options from Daniel’s Wood Land - treehouses that come with their own tree!

Tree houses have a long history. From the Middle Ages on, tree arbors were popular in Europe. During the Italian Renaissance, the Medicis built a marble extravaganza in a tree. A town just west of Paris became famous in the mid-19th century for its arboreal restaurants. But the most famous tree houses of all time existed only in the imagination, including the one that was home to author Johann David Wyss’ shipwrecked clan, the Swiss Family Robinson.
- “Tree Houses Take a Bough”, Smithsonian.com

1. Canim Treehouse: Path, 2. Fairy Treehouse, 3. Treehouse from below, 4. Violet’s Treehouse, 5. Treehouse, 6. Mysterious Building, 7. The Treehouse I, 8. Untitled, 9. A Young Boy’s Paradise , 10. Luxury Tree House, 11. Untitled, 12. Treehouse at the Nature Center, 13. Wish I lived here!, 14. Jeannie’s treehouse, 15. Treehouse 04, 16. Whistler Tree Fort, 17. RALDER_11-17-20, 18. IMG_0553, 19. Tree Forts In Madison Sq. Park, 20. The Ultimate Tree Fort II

Further Reading:
New Treehouses of the World by Pete Nelson
Treehouses: Living a Dream by Alejandro Bahamó
Treehouses (The House that Jack Built) by David Pearson

A tree house, a free house,
A secret you and me house,
A high up in the leafy branches
Cozy as can be house

A street house, a neat house
Be sure to wipe your feet house
I not my kind of house at all-
Let’s go live in a tree house.
-Shel Silverstein

With a nod to Earth Day (which officially falls on Wednesday of this week, April 22nd), I’ve decided to compile a pictorial ode to that much loved structure - the treehouse. For many adults, this architectural genre is inextricably linked to childhood and the place where they first learned to commune with nature. 100 treehouses: 20 a day for the next 5 days.  Enjoy!

1. Tree House, 2. Botsford Tree House, 3. Treehouse, 4. Best Tree House Ever, 5. Raven’s Treehouse, 6. Tree House, 7. Treehouse Quilt Home., 8. Treehouse, 9. Untitled, 10. Retired, 11. Treehouse 03, 12. Treehouse Summer’s End, 13. Treehouse., 14. Cool Treehouse, 15. Treehouse, 16. Treehouse Railing, 17. House upon a tree!, 18. Treehouse, 19. Do you believe in magic?, 20. Treehouse

Chickens, cooped up. Picture by Nanimo.

What to do with the playhouse when the kids outgrow it? Well, you can always keep it up in hopes of grandchildren in fifteen years…or you can take a note from the folks at BackyardChickens.com and convert it into a coop. This is one of the most creative ‘green’ reuses I’ve seen for children’s play structures.

The Backyard Chickens site was started by a family who back in 1999 suddenly found themselves the proud owners of some chicks brought home from one of their children’s kindergarten class. Originally it was a simple site on coop design but with the popularity of raising chicken, especially in more urban and suburban areas, it’s grown into a much larger information sharing resource. Research particular breeds, read about other family’s experience raising chickens or check out a chicken-cam with real time chicken action!

Below are some of my favorite playhouse to hen house conversions.

And when the family car goes to that great garage in the sky, consider keeping it out of a junk yard here on earth - like Michael Thompson who converted a 1970 Morris Traveller into a hen house for four. (It’s hard to see, but the bumper sticker in the back window reads, “I’d rather be flying.”)

The weather is warming and kids who have been bouncing off the walls all winter are now getting a little relief from their cabin fever and a chance to run around the backyard. As you consider outdoor activities for your kiddos this spring and summer, you may want to look to the Children & Nature Network for some great ideas. This Santa Fe based non-profit is building a network to reconnect nature and children and one way they’re going about this is organizing Family Nature Clubs. “They go by different names, and slightly different forms, but they all offer free, low-cost, fun family-oriented activities – ones that help kids (and adults) become happier, healthier and even smarter.” Here’s an example:

Kids In the Valley, Adventuring! (KIVA)

While reading “Last Child in the Woods,” Chip Donahue and his family were inspired to spend more time outside as a family. In December 2007, they launched their own family nature club — a free outdoor adventure network for families in their own neighborhood in the Roanoke Valley. One day their five-year-old son had an even better idea: “Dad, why don’t we invite everyone?” Chip sent a notice to the local paper, and within a few months, over 170 families joined.

Kids In the Valley, Adventuring! now helps families get together for outdoors adventures or nature reclamation projects. The club publishes a monthly e-mail newsletter that lists recommendations for places for families to play, recommends books, and offers other resources. “One important thing is that we have required that parents or guardians stay with their children at all times,” Donahue emphasizes. “We say, ‘Stay and make a memory with your child.’ The only thing we ask is that they consider joining us on volunteer days or finding another volunteer opportunity. There are so many beautiful free things to do outside.”
http://www.kidsadventuring.org

Download their free tool kit for inspiration and resources to start your own club!

This clever and sweet tee comes from Wire & Twine, an Ohio based design house whose work I’m extremely fond of. Their website is lovely, their design sense spot on and their studio is a brilliant barn I’d consider moving to Ohio to work in. A portions of profits from the sale of the Play Station tee are donated to the Children & Nature Network.

If you were out and about in downtown in Chicago this past weekend, you were likely there for the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade and the dyeing of the Chicago River. The what now? It’s been a standing ritual in Chicago since 1962 when green dye was used in pollution-control efforts to trace illegal sewage discharges. Forty pounds of the stuff are released by speedboat, turning a length of the river bright emerald green for about four hours. The ingredients of the dye have changed over the years and are now a more environmentally friendly vegetable based colorant. The surreal waterway make-over lends itself to amazing photographs, like those below. Learn more at GreenChicagoRiver.com.

Images from Flickr.com: 1. Green Chicago River, 2. The Greening of the Chicago River - 2008 Edition, 3. Boat in Green Chicago River, 4. Green Chicago River, 5. Dying Chicago River Green for St. Patrick’s Day, 6. Green Chicago River, 7. Chicago River, 8. a bright green river in a slightly overcast Chicago

While I certainly had heard about Pluto’s demotion from planet to member of the Kuiper belt, it wasn’t until I heard this story on NPR last month that I became aware of the turmolt this reclassification had caused…especially among grade school kids. Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York has been widely cast as the villain in this controversy.

Well the folks over at the cool kids retailer Olliebollen have recently launched the Pluto Fan Club, a place for your little astronomer to launch a formal complaint by filling out their download-able protest letter. While there, read up on the misaligned now dwarf planet by checking out these books: The Kid Who Named Pluto (an 11 year old girl named Venetia Burney!), and When is a Planet not a Planet? You can also join their cause on Facebook.

Being that Valentine’s Day is this weekend I thought it would be the perfect time spread a little love and finish placing the batch of Valentine Vermin I made for the Toy Society project. You can read about the first round of drops in this post. These three little mice were placed in spots I thought easily accessible by a kid - two schools and the neighborhood library! These images have also been uploaded to the Toy Society’s Flickr group with more information on their drop locations. Continue reading below the image.

I was so excited to learn that at least two of the toys from the first drop were found and reported! The found reports will be posted on the Toy Society’s website soon. Although anonymity is part of what makes this project so cool, one of the new owners is also an industrious fellow Flickr member and managed to track me down. I loved his enthusiasm and he posted his own photos!

“dude! i found it yesterday! i was walking my bike thru the park taking pictures of the beach when i saw it–thought at first it was some sort of setup, prank, etc….too damn cool…you can see pics @my flickr–http://www.flickr.com/photos/bob_o/.. ….thanks!”

1. FOUND 1, 2. FOUND 2, 3. FOUND 3, 4. FOUND 4

And finally, Junior Society member Laurie was kind enough to let me know that she tackled the valentine mouse project and posted pictures here. I love her clever alterations! (A tail…now why didn’t I think of that!) Thanks Laurie!