DIY Tent

Brecken's birthday came and went about two months ago.  This year was hard when it came to deciding what to get him because he's in a phase where toys lose interest in a matter of minutes and the ones that he does enjoy usually involve parent interaction to use them. And as I assume with most kids his age, he has enough toys to entertain a small country but he still feels it necessary to play with everything that isn't a toy. So we halted all toy buying this year and settled on something we could all enjoy. We searched and planned and finally settled on a tent. Our inspiration came from Rubyellen of Cakies. With a few changes we designed a foolproof A-frame that will (hopefully) last through the toddler years. I may be a little too optimistic...

While the original design consisted of using a flat sheet and elastic bands to hold the bottom of the tent in place we knew that a more sturdy structure was needed for Brecken.

Supplies:

3-3/4x48"  wooden dowels

4-48" pine molding pieces (1x2" boards)

60" leather lace

2-36x45" pieces of fabric

2-12x45" pieces of fabric

3/4" spade drill bit

Follow the diagram above for sewing the pieces together*

John used the 3/4 spade drill bit to put holes in the 1x2" wooden molding (1x2" pine boards would also work just as well). He drilled holes approximately 4.5" from the top. The bottom holes are roughly 1.1/4" from the bottom.

Simple as that. 

As Brecken began to play in the tent we noticed that occasionally the wooden molding would pop off the pegs resulting in the tent collapsing. To stop this from happening we tied leather lace to both ends of the top peg to hold the molding in place. 

We've had our tent for a little more then two months now and it has been get-away oasis for Brecken.  Reading time and cuddle sessions have been had by all under it's canopy. Most importantly it is collapsible, making for a neat and clean disappearance to the closet, if only all toys were that easy to put away, you hear me?

Thanks for stopping in and Happy New Year!