A cubby-hole, cubby-house or cubby is a small play house, or play area, for children. This may be constructed by the children themselves and used as a place of play.
Autistic
The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...
children can sometimes benefit from such places.
Children may have a small shed, play-house or tent which they use as a cubby-house. Children might build their own in various places in the house or garden, or have a pre-fabricated cubby. An Australian fictional treatment of the quest for the perfect cubby can be found in
Ursula Dubosarsky
Ursula Dubosarsky (born ''Ursula Coleman''; 1961 in Sydney) is an Australian writer of fiction and non-fiction for children and young adults, whose work is characterised by a child's vision and comic voice of both clarity and ambiguity. She ha ...
's ''The Cubby House'', illustrated by Mitch Vane.
Etymology
Possibly from the term "cub" in old English related to "stall, pen, cattle shed, coop, hutch".
"Cubby-hole" is sometimes written as one word (''cubbyhole'').
Meanings in various countries
In South Africa, cubby-hole or cubby is the word for a
glove compartment
A glove compartment or glove box is a compartment built into the dashboard of an automobile, located over the front-seat passenger's footwell, and often used for miscellaneous storage. The name derives from the original purpose of the compart ...
in a vehicle. This
usage
The usage of a language is the ways in which its written and spoken variations are routinely employed by its speakers; that is, it refers to "the collective habits of a language's native speakers", as opposed to idealized models of how a language ...
is also common in Barbados, Zambia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, as well as parts of Southern Minnesota; Madison, South Dakota; and Northwest Wyoming.
In the UK, Ireland and Canada, it may refer to the cupboard under the stairs. In Quebec, the French word ''cagibi'', which is a contraction of ''cage à bijoux'', and roughly translates as "jewel case", is synonymous with a triangular storage walk-in located directly under the inner stairs of a house.
In the United States, a cubby-hole most often refers to a small square or rectangle-shaped space where children may keep their personal belongings, such as in a preschool or kindergarten setting. These cubby-holes are often constructed out of the same materials as bookshelves and have a similar appearance save for the division of the cubbies themselves.
See also
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Wendy house
A Wendy house is a United Kingdom term for a playhouse for children, which is large enough for one or more children to enter. Size and solidity can vary from a plastic kit to something resembling a real house in a child's size. Usually there is ...
References
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Childhood
Buildings and structures by type