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Children's Tent Bed Ideas

On a rainy day or cold winter's night, your children will love playing in a tent bed. Tucked safely inside the cozy confines of a bed tent, your little ones can pretend they are camping or hiding in a mysterious cave. Turn off the lights and provide a few flashlights for hours of tent bed fun. Gather up some blankets or sheets and a few supplies and make a bed tent from these creative children's tent bed ideas.

PVC Pipe Tent
- For a roomy children's tent bed, use 1-inch PVC pipes for a sturdy frame. This creative bed tent idea is adapted from photographer Jim Beecher's Web site, Photo Kaboom, and his suggestion for making a photography light tent using PVC pipe. Use this idea to make a larger-scale tent for your children.
  
  To make a PVC pipe tent, begin by measuring the length and width of the bed. Measure another imaginary line from the mattress to the desired height. You will need enough PVC pipe for two rectangular frames of four pipes and four pipes for posts. Purchase PVC pipe (amount based on your measurements), purple primer, PVC cement, eight 3-way connectors (fittings) and a hand saw from a home improvement store.
  
  To construct the tent, lay out the pieces you will need for the rectangular frames. Connect the four pipes using the fittings. To glue PVC pipes and fittings together, the Hammer Zone Web site instructs applying purple primer to one end of the PVC pipe. Allow the primer to dry then apply PVC cement to the pipe and the connector fitting. Hammer Zone then instructs pushing the pipe into the connector, turning the pipe about a quarter of a turn. Hold together for about a minute.
  
  Repeat this process to make another rectangular frame. Glue the four posts to each corner of both frames. To complete the bed tent, cover the entire frame with one or two large blankets.
Bunk Bed Tent
- Don't have time to invest in making a children's bed tent? If your children have bunk beds, you can easily make a bed tent in less than a minute. Simply drape sheets or blankets between the top and bottom bunks. Secure the sheets or blankets by tucking them under the side rungs of the bunk beds.
Wall Tent
- Another easy children's tent bed idea is to attach a large sheet or blanket to a wall. Push your child's bed against the wall. Use thumbtacks to secure the sheet or blanket to the wall. Attach the blanket or sheet about five or six feet above the bed for plenty of play room. Pull the sheet or blanket taut over the bed and secure with pillows or by tucking the ends under the mattress.

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