My daughters, 7 & 4, love to play with doll houses. I, however, have a problem with them. What I really wanted for them was a wooden doll house. Unfortunately, my husband doesn't have the time to make them one and I didn't want to spend a fortune either.

Late last year I came across the Wooden Folding Princess Castle by Doug & Melissa. At only $69, it's cheaper than all those plastic doll houses on the market and it's extremely well-made. My kids love it and play with it all the time.

In case you are wondering why I wanted to go with a wooden doll house instead of the plastic alternative, there are a few reasons which are important to mention. First, the process used to make plastic is extremely bad for the environment. Tons of petroleum is used in the production of plastic. I feel like I'm supporting our dependency on foreign oil when I purchase plastic toys. I'm also not overly pleased with the quality of some of the plastic toys that are on the market, my kids can be pretty hard on their toys so I like to buy things that will last for awhile. This wooden doll house is made well and it's much more eco friendly than all of the plastic that we feel forced to buy.

The best thing is that your daughters can use many small dolls that they already have at home. If you'd like to buy wooden dolls to go with the Wooden Folding Princess Castle princess wooden doll house, there are two sets available, the royal family and the Castle Dolls playset. Those are available at an extremely reasonable price as well - about $20.00 for 6 dolls and 2 horses.

You can use furniture that you already own in the doll house - think Barbie size - or you can purcahse wooden furniture
from the Melissa & Doug line as well.

Overall, the wooden doll house has been great and I was able to buy two sets of dolls, the doll house, and the furniture set for less than the plastic Barbie house that I had been looking for. Plus it reminds me of an era that's passed, when we all used to play with wooden toys.