No-sew Dropcloth Play Tent

by Gretchen

3 Materials

When we were redoing my preschool son's room with a National Parks theme, we wanted to make sure there was something really fun in there for him, so we came up with this plan for an inexpensive, easy to make (no sewing!) play tent for him--perfect or the outdoorsy/camping theme we had going on! We were really happy with how it turned out.

First we built two frames out of 1x2 pieces of wood. We cut and assembled the boards into 4 x 6 frames then sanded and stained the frames.

We used canvas drop cloths for the sides of the tent because they had the look we were going for, we thought they'd hold up well to kid play, and the edges were already finished. We stretched the drop cloths over the frames and then screwed these corner pieces in to hold them in place.

Then we stapled every few inches along the top and bottom edges (we used our hardcore air compressor staple gun, since we have one, but a regular old staple gun should work fine).

Then we gave ourselves a quick course in rope tying with Google's help, to come up with the best way to tie the two panels together with jute twine.

And here 's the finished tent! Perfect spot for playing and reading! More detailed step by step instructions are available on my blog if you'd like to make your own! And if you're looking for more National Parks/outdoor themed kid room ideas, here are the stenciled bison curtains we made for the room.

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3 questions

Jewellmartin on May 21, 2017

@Gretchen. A marvelously simple idea that looks so inspiring for a child. Now that I've seen the curtains you made, I am wondering: have you considered decorating the tent sides tepee style, with stenciled bears and other forest symbols? And I have an idea that if you search some thrift stores, you will find old mountain pictures that would look good on the walls. Best wishes 😇

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Fou6698062 on Jun 07, 2017

How do you keep it upright? If it's bumped, how do you keep the sides from sliding apart and collapsing?

2
Joy Mason on Jul 02, 2017

could you use a drop cloth as a curtain ?

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Kai8177846 on Jun 08, 2017

This is a cute idea, but I am a gramma to 6 boys (no girls :( ). We did what my parents and grandparents did for me and my sibs...put sheets over the tables. I did it for my kids and now the boys and their parents do it at their homes, too. The dining room table holds all of them; the kitchen table 3 or 4; I set up two card tables and cover those. Sometimes the sheet tents become places to nap or read - when we lift one side. They are forts, and mystery islands. Imaginations can take them to outer space and to dinosaur lands. And, they like them for sleepovers. Just a thought for those that don't have the time or space but like this cute idea. The six boys belong to our 3 kids not all in one family - lol.

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Nancy J. Hill on Jun 13, 2017

I am of the same mind as Jewel... now that you have it put together, why not add some mountain or meadow features? Drop cloths make great canvases for some freehand art work. Nice job!

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