How to Guides

Make Hamster Toys- Hamster Beach Hut Tutorial

There is so much that you can make for your hamster, home made hamster toys are an excellent alternative to shop bought toys. I will show you a step by step guide to making a hamster beach hut, hopefully this will inspire you to unleash your creative side! Your hamster will love it!

 

Shopping List

  • Lollipop (Popsicle) sticks
  • Scissors
  • Non toxic glue (either PVA or hot glue gun)
  • Non toxic kids poster paint (optional)

 

Step 1

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Start by laying out 10 lollipop sticks on a flat surface. Attach these together by using two more lollipop sticks with the ends cut off (this will help you when you come to stick the four sides together) using non toxic glue. When you are doing this make sure that the lollipop sticks attaching everything are in the same place on each of the sides, this is important as we will use these to rest the second story on later.

You need to do this three times.

 

Step 2

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The fourth side will be the front of the hamster beach hut and this needs to have a doorway cut. I did this by using scissors. I have made my doorway four lollipop sticks wide, but you can alter this if you want to. Half way up the door I cut the lollipop sticks so that they meet in the centre. To make this look more neat and tidy I cut pieces of lollipop stick to go around the edges of the door. I made the outline to the doorway three lollipop sticks thick, this is to give the door some definition, but this is purely optional. I attached everything with non toxic glue.

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Step 3

IMG_1022[1]This step can be quite tricky, you need to use the non toxic glue to stick all four sides together to make a cube. It will take some patience and time but once done this is a large part of your hamster hut complete.

 

Step 4

IMG_1023[1]To make the floor of the second story you need to cut your lollipop sticks to the correct length to fit into your cube perfectly. If you make one stick using a pencil to get the right length then you can use this stick as a guide to cut the others. Cut 5 lollipop sticks to this length and secure together using short pieces of lollipop stick (the same as we did on the sides, just smaller pieces). Leave this to dry.

 

Step 5

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Next its time to make the ladder so that your hamster can reach the second level. I did this by using one lollipop stick and glued smaller pieces of lollipop stick to this, if you use the full length lollipop stick in the centre it will make it more sturdy. Now leave this to dry.

 

Step 6

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To assemble the ladder and second level is quite simple. Just apply a small amount of glue on to the edges of the platform that you have made and slot this into the back of the cube, it will rest on the top of the lollipop sticks that you used to glue the sides together. The ladder is also simple to attach, A small amount of non toxic glue will secure this to the top and bottom of the hut. Just gently push down on the ladder to make sure that it is secure. Now just leave this to dry.

Once dry you can use some non toxic poster paint on the inside and outside if you would like.

 

Step 7

IMG_1027[1]This step is basically gluing a lollipop stick onto the front and back of the hamster beach hut (just cut the ends off so that it doesn’t overhang at the sides). This will help you attach the roof to the base. Leave to dry.

 

Step 8

At this stage we are going to start to make the roof. So that I can make the front and back identical I make myself a triangle template. Trace the outline of this onto your lollipop sticks. You can now cut the lollipop sticks to the correct length using scissors.

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Step 9

IMG_1031[1]Again using pieces of lollipop stick secure everything using non toxic glue. Leave to dry.

 

Step 10

IMG_1032[1]Next you can glue a lollipop stick to each side, this will hide any untidy edges and give your hut a better finish.

 

Step 11

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This is where you can either give your hut skylight windows or just have a solid roof. If you are going to make a solid roof then you literally lay out 14 lollipop sticks and secure them together in the same way as the previous steps. However if you are wanting to upgrade your hamster beach hut to one with windows then you need to cut out a rectangle from the roof panel. Again using 14 lollipop sticks, lay them out flat. However this time instead of just securing them you need to mark the area where the window will go. Cut the lollipop sticks and discard the pieces that you don’t need. At this point you need to glue everything together in the same way as before, as shown in the picture, it doesn’t matter if this is not very tidy as it will be on the inside.

You need to make two of these, either standard roof panels or ones with windows.

 

Step 12

IMG_1036[1]Now that the front and back of the roof are dry you can attach them to the base of your hamster beach hut using non toxic glue. It is important to make sure that this is dry before moving on to the next step.

 

Step 13 – finishing your hamster beach hut

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This final stage is just assembling the roof panels, using non toxic glue hold the pieces into place. If you want make the windows neater then use the same method as for the doorway. You can now paint your hamster hut whatever colours you like, or you can just leave the plain lollipop sticks the way they are.

 

Be creative, there are so many things you can do. The pieces on the roof and above the door are made from cardboard, which I have painted and glued to the hut.

 

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