DIY Kids Teepee: A No-Sew Tutorial
Make your children (or pets!) the ultimate nook to get comfy and chill out in this summer, with this awesome DIY kids teepee project you can create at home. Great for use outdoors or in, you can use materials you already have in the back of your craft stash – and there’s no sewing required, so if you have little ones impatiently waiting to play… get them involved in the making too! Check out Penelope Quinn’s step-by-step tutorial below and discover exactly how to turn your scrap fabric stash into something the kids’ll love.
You Will Need:
- 10 x 1.5m bamboo stakes
- Silver paint
- Felt
- An old sheet or material scraps
- Twine
- Hot glue gun & plenty of sticks
DIY Kids Teepee Tutorial:
Step 1:
First, spray paint your bamboo sticks silver; this step is optional, if you want a more natural look. Once dry, take two bamboo sticks at a time and tie together the ends, and then tie intervals of about 20 cms apart. Secure the twine with hot glue. This will make it so much easier for you to weave pieces of fabric to the frame.
Step 2:
Next, build the frame by taking the 5 poles you’ve just created, and spacing them out evenly. Secure the top of the stakes with twine and a bit of hot glue to hold them all in place.
Step 3:
Next tear strips off your fabric that are 20cm by 1 metre. Start at the top by weaving in and out, gluing down the fabric as you go.
Don’t pull too tight so that the base of your tepee starts to move about and get smaller!
Step 4:
When this feels secure, start by weaving lengths of fabric in and out of the bamboo sticks and gluing down where you need to. I started by wrapping and gluing the fabric around the front pole (so no bamboo was showing), then weaved the fabric over the next pole before gluing it down to the third pole. Keep going like this, overlapping as you go. Use the gaps in the bamboo sticks to help secure & tidy the ends. I found working with a metre of fabric at a time was easiest; if you try and wrap your material the whole way round you’ll end up with a lot of loose fabric!
Step 5:
Keep going down the frame and don’t worry if there’s lots of holes, simply go back and attach the fabric together with a dab of hot glue.
Step 6:
Make some felt feathers for the entrance, and adorn with a few soft blankets and cushions.
Now your awesome DIY kids teepee is complete… there’s nothing left to do but invite its first inhabitant to try it out!
Check out our DIY felt campfire creative playset right here, to really bring your indoor campsite to life! These teepees are a great way to encourage imaginative play, as well as providing a safe space for your little ones to claim as their own.
Want to check out some more of our awesome kids craft ideas? Find all our projects, tutorials and inspirational articles right here!
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