Wendy house

A Wendy house, also known as a cubby house or play house, is a small toy house.

The name originates from the character of Wendy Darling in J. M. Barrie's play, Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up. Wendy was injured soon after her arrival in Neverland, so Peter Pan and the Lost Boys build a small house around her where she had fallen. A Wendy house was created by Barrie himself for the first stage production of the play in 1904. [ http://www.c20th.com/ppwendyhouse.htm retrieved on 26 June 2007]

In South Africa, Wendy houses are normally pre-fabricated timber sheds which are delivered by a small truck and erected in the back yard as either a play area for children or for the storage of garden tools.

In Australia cubby houses (or colloquially "cubby" or "cubbies") were historically built by children (with perhaps some help from older persons) from found or scrap materials often in out-of-the-way places in the garden or in wasteground areas. They were by their nature impermanent structures often lasting for a season or two or just for a school holiday. More recently, however, with safety concerns becoming more of a focus and children playing less frequently outside of the family home's garden, construction has been more formalised with kits and even fully-built units being available commercially. [http://www.cubbyhouse.com.au/ - an example of a company selling cubby house kits in Australia. The term 'cubby' refers to a small confined space, which is where the term originates.]

The phrase is virtually unknown in most of the U.S., where a backyard children's play structure is much more likely to be called a 'clubhouse' or 'treehouse'.

References

Notes

An example of a Australian Cubby House Manufacturer is [http://www.ozcubbys.com.au www.ozcubbys.com.au]