Make a Collapsible Play Tent for the Kids
All kids love a magical place where they can play and let their imaginations run wild. And with Summer around the corner it’s the perfect time to make a simple A-frame play tent using electrical conduit and brightly colored bandanas. The kids will love it and you can put one together in an afternoon.
What You Need to Make a Play Tent
- Spray paint
- Some ribbon or string
- 16 bandanas (if you can’t find any bandanas you can use a sheet or tarpaulin at least 2 m long and 1.06 m wide or 2 1/4 yards long and 41 3/4″ wide
- electrical conduit fittings
- 25 mm or 1″ electrical PVC conduit pipe. You need enough to cut four pieces measuring 104 cm or 41″ and one piece measuring 106 cm or 41 3/4″
- 2 3-Way Elbow PVC Fittings
Since I really struggled to find some 3-way Elbow fitting so I used the following instead. You’ll need to of each
- PVC male ends with lock rings (25 mm or 1″)
- PVC circular lids and
- 2-way PVC circular boxes (25 mm or 1″)
Making the Frame
Use a hack saw to cut the conduit pipe into four pieces measuring 104 cm and one piece measuring 106 cm. Make a hole in the top of the 2-way circular boxes and insert the male ends into the holes from the outside. Push the longer electrical pipe into the male end and secure the male ends inside the circular boxes with the lock ring. Spray all the electrical bits (pipes, male ends, circular lids and 2-way boxes) in any bright happy colour.
Here’s a close up of the lock ring inside the 2-way circular boxes. The lock ring screws onto the male end, which is inserted into the circular box and the longer PVC pipe fits into the male end which is outside the box. If you use the 3-way elbow fittings you can just ignore this piccy.
To finish off the frame push the shorter pieces into the 3-way elbow or 2-way circular box and screw on the circular lids. I have no idea how a box can be circular but that’s what it’s called 😎
Making the Tent Cover
Sew all the bandanas together to form a large square, four bandanas by four bandanas. I didn’t want the seams to show where I joined the bandanas, so I folded the large square of bandanas in half and sewed the long end closed. If you’re using a piece of material then you don’t need to worry about this step.
Cut the ribbon or string into ten pieces that are 18 cm or 7″ long and sew them to the tent cover as shown below.
Putting It All Together
All that’s left to do is tie the tent cover to the PVC pipe A-frame and the kids can start playing.
Our fur kids love the tent!!
And the human kids have a little place they can call their own where their imaginations can go wild!!!
Taking It All Down Again
This A-frame tent is really easy to assemble and when the kids aren’t playing just take the frame apart and roll it up or you can use the tent cover as a play mat 🙂
I’m so happy with how it turned out and I can’t wait for all the little ones to come play. If you like the idea don’t forget to share.
Oh before I forget, see that no-sew, little heart shaped bandana pillow in the piccy above? This one here?
Those are super easy to make too, you can get the tutorial here. It’s a fun additional to the bandana play tent. If you’d like to make one and don’t want to go to all that trouble of finding the materials, I’ve got you covered Disclosure: If you click on the links below, we may receive a commission from Amazon. But don’t worry it won’t come out of your pocket, and it helps us fund our crafting habit 😉
And as always wishing you a beautiful crafting week.
P.S I tried to give the measurements in both mm and inches to make it easier for all the beautiful people from the States who come and visit the blog. Please double check my inches and yards if you want to make the tent. It took me longer to figure what the correct measurements should be, but you guys are worth it!! In fact it was quicker making the tent, putting it up, taking the photos and taking it down again. Go figure………
I would love to know how much it cost. Pinterest said $10 but that can’t be right
If I remember correctly Shannon it was probably closer to $20. We stay in South Africa and we get our bandanas from the China Mall down the road. They sell them for about R 100 a pack of 12 (that’s $7,60) and the electrical conduit is really, really cheap. Sorry I can’t give you an exact price for the total make, but $10 does sound a bit cheap.
You said u used 16 bandanas, but I only see that 8 were used.
Hey there Mimi, I really appreciate the question. The bandanas are doubled up. I didn’t like the look of the seams on the inside of the tent so there are 8 one the outside and 8 on the inside. Hope that makes sense
This is wonderful for the little ones! I would go one step further and make a mat that is waterproof for the floor of the tent. I know my grand babies and little nieces and nephews will just love this!
That’s such a great idea Shirley. It’s the perfect way to make the play that little bit more special
What a super cute idea this is! I’ve never seen one made from bandannas before.
Lol 🙂 We had a ton of bandanas left from a conference we did, and they’ve been lying in the cupboard begging to be used.
This is such a great idea and it looks so easy to put together! My nieces would love this in the summer.
Thanks for your lovely comments Michelle 🙂 and it is really easy to put up and take down
This is great!!! Now we just need for some warm weather to arrive in Montreal!
Thank you Tanya. I’ll try send you some warm weather from South Africa 😎
That’s fantastic! Looks really great and my 2 year old would absolutely love it. He’s got a tent already that I previously bought but this puts that one to shame lol
This is so great! My kids would love this, esp. here in Arizona with our hot (hot, hot) sun. Visiting from Hometalk.
I know that hot, hot feeling. The sun in South Africa can be a killer and the tent is perfect for protecting the little ones. Thank you for visiting and leaving a comment. HomeTalk rocks!!!!
What a great idea! Something they’ll play with for yrs.
Thank you JoJo 🙂