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How to Make a Homemade Tent for Toddlers

Indoor tents make bad weather days fun for toddlers. Kids will while away many hours playing at camping indoors with a realistic tent. Forget the card table and blanket tent that moms have used to amuse restless tots. You can build a real tent with PVC pipe and fixtures that can be knocked down and stored for another rainy day.

Things You'll Need

3 each - 1-inch schedule 40 white PVC pipe, 5 feet long
4 each - 1-inch schedule 40 white PVC pipe, 3 feet 6 inches long
2 each - 1-inch schedule 40 white PVC three-way, slip fit, fixtures
4 each - 1-inch schedule 40 white PVC 90 degree, slip fit, elbows
Hacksaw
Miter box
Fine sandpaper
5-foot-by-7-foot polyvinyl tarp with grommets at 3-foot intervals
4 pieces heavy twine 12 inches long

Instructions

- 1
  Cut four 10-foot lengths of schedule 40 PVC pipe to the required lengths. Cut three 5-foot-long lengths using a hacksaw and a small miter box. These pieces will form the ridge of the tent and the base at two sides. Cut four 3-foot-6-inch-long lengths. These will serve as legs of the tent at the four corners. Sand the end of each cut section to remove sawing burrs.
- 2
  Build the tent ridge. Place a three-way fixture on each end of a 5-foot section of PVC pipe. This will be the tent ridge. Two openings of the fixtures should form a 45-degree angle. Insert the four legs into the three-way fixture openings so that a 45-degree angle is formed. Slip a 90-degree elbow onto the end of each leg. Insert a 5-foot section of PVC pipe to connect the legs at each end of the tent. The tent frame should look like a rectangular piece of paper folded lengthwise and standing on the edges.
- 3
  Place the 5-foot-by-7-foot tarp over the tent frame so the 5-foot dimension spans the tent ridge from front to back. Tie the tarp to the tent frame at the four corner grommets with 1-foot lengths of heavy twine using a bow knot.
- 4
  Fold the tent to a 5-foot length to begin striking down your tent. Leave the fixtures on pipe ends. Roll the tarp with the pipes and fixtures inside, ready for another bad weather day. With practice, your PVC tent can be set up and knocked down in five or 10 minutes.

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