easy DIY tent that your kids will enjoy inside any time of year…
Do you guys camp? Me neither. There’s lots of stuff I’ll do for my kids…I’ll play Thomas the Train and My Little Pony. I’ll apply bandages to boo-boos that are too small for the human eye to detect.
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I’ll eat plastic food in a restaurant that cooks its’ food over a double-A operated cooktop, and requires customers to pay up with Monopoly money. I’ll even skip showering for days on end because I’m so busy busting my tush for my kiddos that I just don’t. have. time. to. shower.
That’s a lie…I’m really just too lazy to shower. And yes, I’m judging me too. *This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Please read our disclosure policy HERE.*
With this natural hesitation to shower, you’d think I’d be the perfect Mom to pitch the ol’ tent and hang out in some sleeping bags under the stars. Nope.
But, I can imagine the romanticism…the starry night, the smell of the campfire, the sound of the crickets. So, I came up with a Plan B. One that can allow for some of the camping glory, without all the camping grime.
Welcome to our indoor campsite complete with DIY tent, here in Sweet Cheeks’ room.
For those of you who may be new here, Sweet Cheeks, he’s our little hunter/gatherer/mini-Survivorman. And not only is his room HIS favorite space, but it’s also one of mine as well. There are certain little elements in here that make it that way.
One being the DIY tent, made from a WWII Army blanket I found on eBay. I paid $39 for it, and I loved this particular blanket because it had a large tear in it that had been hand-stitched, and a unit insignia on it. There is clearly a lot of history there, and that makes it a special piece to highlight in his room.
LISTEN UP CAMPERS! That brings us to arts & crafts time here at Camp Heathered Nest. Today, in our DIY blog class, we’re going to be making this indoor A-frame DIY tent! (Here’s a little video preview of today’s project:
This is such a simple DIY project. Quick, and inexpensive, but one that will be used for many, many hours of fun at home.
I pulled the basic design for this DIY tent from a great blog tutorial by mycakies.blogspot.com. She actually did her first tutorial on this project in 2011, then tweaked some things on the design and re-posted in 2012 for A Beautiful Mess.
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| Source: MyCakies, 2012 |
DIY tent supplies:
→ army blanket, or other vintage blanket of choice
→ (3) wood dowels 3/4″ diameter x desired length of tent (3-4′)
→ (4) pieces of 1″ x 2″ wood, approx 48″ length (Can be found in moulding aisle)
→ circular saw to cut wood to desired length
→ drill with 3/4″ spade wood bit
→ (6) small wood screws
→ pencil and measuring tape
→ twine
Got out the cordless Makita circular saw to cut down the boards for the A-frame.
Then I used a 3/4″ spade wood bit and the Makita cordless drill driver to cut the holes for the dowels that connect the A frame.
I used twine to help secure the dowel into place. There’s also a small screw in the dowel which helps anchor the twine and keep it from slipping off the end of the dowel. I’m no boy scout, so I just wrapped the twine kinda willy-nilly around the frame until it felt secure.
Same at the bottom of the frame. I simply placed a small screw into the dowel, then wrapped twine around the dowel to prevent the A-frame structure of our DIY tent from slipping off the dowel. Mycakies used some elastic to help secure the fabric to the frame. Since my Army blanket is very thick and stiff, that part wasn’t necessary in this design.
And I think the twine on the edges of the frame make the DIY tent feel a bit more rustic and primitive, for our budding naturalist.
The insignia on this Army blanket was one of it’s coolest features, so when I disassembled the blanket, I cut that section out, hemmed the edges to prevent fraying, then hand-stitched the emblem onto the side of the DIY tent so it would be featured prominently.
And now, our DIY tent hideaway is complete.
Thanks for coming, camper! Feel free to stick around for at the campfire for some (felt) smores and Kumbya.
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