With all of the talk of building things with wood  in my department, we've attracted a budding  woodworker.  Faheem wanted something easy to start with so Walter suggested a folding playhouse that he built a while ago for his kids.  The design is simple - four square frames of 1x2 pine with hinges to hold two frames together.  When folded out, the two halves are held together with clips.  The roof peaks then hinge up and are held in place with a removable 1x2 bar.  This is what it look like when folded.  The 1x2s are butt-jointed and reinforced with a triangular shaped piece of hardboard.

This is with the frames opened, and with the roof peaks up and held in place with the peak bar.

Faheem's wife made a covering from a sheet that slides over the frame, including doors and windows.  The new homeowners seem to like it!

At the peak of construction, we had Faheem, Ben, Walter and myself - nearly half the department!

Total time to build: 10 hours, with a lot of teaching Faheem how to use each tool in the shop along the way.