I don't even have words for how much I love all of these - wonderful!

I hated dolls with a passion when I was growing up, but I loved playing with those little Matchbox cars. Parents should understand that kids are just looking for something interesting to play with. Its not always indicitive of that child's gender preference. Just relax and let them be kids.

ADAIS: Well said. I too was not a fan of dolls but loved my brothers Tonka trucks. At a certain age, kids just want to play and have someone to play with so it really doesn't matter the toy...they just want to be part of the fun.

I wouldn't call some of these "doll houses" but they are beautiful. As a child, I preferred Lincoln Logs so I could build my own houses.

Adais, yes!

Yikes on the price tags!

Amen betweenbars, machine cut pieces of unfinished pine go for a pretty penny these days.

Why do the doll houses need to be gender neutral? Most of these are ugly modern pieces, with little color. You might as well just give the kid some blocks to build a fort. As earlier posters have mentioned boys and girls play with a variety of different toys. Would more girls play with tonka trucks if they were pink or a nice gender neutral gray?
Fisher price has some nice doll houses my kids (boys and girls) loved to play with, some of them have more pink some of them have less, nobody really cared.

I love these houses, but really isn't any dollhouse actually gender-neutral? We all live in houses!

Yay for gender neutral toys! But like @bsand said, it might also be a good idea to just let boys play with "girls'" toys if they want to, and the other way around. It might be a good step toward raising young men that don't treat femininity like a disease.

I'm a fan of the playmobil series. They can be pricey too, but a lot less than the above like this one. Or how about a medieval house with barn?

I normally hate to buy plastic toys, but we were gifted the Playmobil 123 doll house --- it is wonderful and extremely sturdy. Great for less coordinated toddlers because the furniture "clicks" into place, similar to legos. Highly recommended for younger kids.

We have various components of the Toideloi stackhouse and love it. I love that the kids can redesign the space and change it from castle/barn/house and make it low or high. I also love that we've been able to change the size over time and it makes an easy add-on gift for grandparents.

Two others I love: http://www.etsy.com/listing/62948930/large-waldorf-doll-house

Blocks, Lincoln Logs, Legos, erector sets!

Some of these feel too abstract to be any fun. I loved dollhouses that were the most true to real life, in miniature. But maybe that was just me.

Yeah, and the DIY houses are the only ones that look like any fun.

LEGOS/Duplos. Cardboard boxes. I appreciate the aesthetics of the fancier houses but if you spent that much on LEGOs you could build and rebuild furnished houses with garages and cars. And have minifigures that can also be refashioned to your hearts desire.

My favourite by far is the bookcase one. Some of the others look more designed to appeal to adults than for children ... Especially #9: it doesn't look like you could really get your hands in there to play with dolls or even move the furniture about easily.

These are beautiful, but they are very pricey (and likely not built to last). As a PreK teacher, I would totally recommend buying a dollhouse from Lakeshore Learning or Constructive Playthings. They're still more expensive than a Playskool dollhouse (generally between $100-$150), but they're really made to last. And they aren't obnoxiously pink and girly.

Some of these need a LOT of imagination to be fun, don't they?

Is it me or is #7 a cat tree?

Post author here... I perhaps should have chosen a different title for my post! I absolutely agree with so many of the sentiments expressed above, but it was not my intent to cause a stir. My intent was to showcase some modern miniature house examples for young children, both for inspiration to make your own at home or to purchase a unique one elsewhere. A quick search online for miniature houses will show that most dollhouses or miniature houses are modeled after the classic Victorian era and are meant for older children (and adults!) due to their extreme miniature proportions and delicacies - they are delightful but often complex structures. For younger children and at big-box toy stores, your options are limited to pink overload, heavily branded, or overtly large plastic options. At smaller boutique-size toy stores, mostly I see either Plan Toys or Ryan's Room brands (both of which I feel are manufactured well and love that they are designed with neutral colors and natural wood).

I have really enjoyed seeing my son explore all types of toys that we have offered him in his play space and most definitely at this age (toddler/preschool), there is little to no distinction between "girl" or "boy" toys, just toys he enjoys and is interested in! I feel that it is only later in childhood development that children start to distinguish for themselves and even receive pressure from peers what types of toys they are interested in and should/should not play with. I'm sure that time will come someday for my children and I hope I will have the parenting skills on hand to offer guidance and support towards whatever interests them. Additional hopes as a parent to both a boy (and girl to be born next spring) include the desire to have toys and experiences of all kinds within our household that foster amazing discoveries, creations of all kinds, building things (and taking apart!) to finding out how pieces work together... as well as activities that are quiet, contemplative, imagination-stretching, and help to develop awareness and empathy towards one another within open play. Miniature house play can actually do all of the above and I think that is why I am so attracted to having some sort of set-up in our home that encourages these kinds of play and explorations within one toy.

I am planing to build a mini-house for my son this fall to give to him as a gift come December. I will be doing so in my dad's garage shop and under his tutelage (though hopefully not much is needed, since I have been building things with him my whole life!) It's been so inspiring to see all the neat DIY and handmade mini-houses via Etsy and elsewhere online. Whether you plan on purchasing or building for yourself, there are some really cool ideas out there and I hope these 10 images and links helped plant the seed for any other readers out there looking for mini-house options as well this fall.

Lincoln Logs, Legos, erector sets... fort building, blocks, wood scraps... yes on all!! I am working on a post that features some sources for these great activities and simple play items. There are so many fun, simple, and timeless activities we can introduce to our children, but it's also great to have options and ideas for more complex activities as well. I hope I succeeded in offering the former today.

-Jena M.

I always liked Lincoln Logs and Legos better than frilly, girly dollhouses, but it required an awful lot of blocks to make something big enough for my Barbies. I remember having the most fun just using cardboard, even up till middle school. Way more flexibility for creating floorplans, furniture, cars--even the dolls themselves. When I was home recently going through old toys, I found my old Polly Pockets and all the tiny cardboard cars I had made for them!

I remember reading an interview with a British dollhouse store owner who said a lot of couples tell her "we'd love to have a dollhouse but we have a boy."

I'd love to quickly disabuse those parents of the notion that boys don't play with dollhouses. My younger brother played with all of mine, plus his beloved "Ghostbusters" toy fire station, and he built plenty of houses out of Legos.

The market IS still a bit skewed towards the frilly Victorian aesthetic, though (although Colonial dollhouses are gaining a bigger market share)...if I ever have children, I'm building them a medieval castle. Show me ONE child who doesn't love castles.

The 2nd one is by far my favorite. It's easy to convert back to a bookcase when the child outgrows dollhouse a or just loses interest.

@JudiAU - how sturdy is the Toideloi stackhouse? I'm seriously considering it for my 2.5 year old son, but want it to last until my now 10 month old daughter can use it!

Plan Toys has some good ones like the Contemporary Dollhouse: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3557243