Normally I do not allow my children to play in the living room. I like to keep it looking nice and toy free in case someone comes to the door. We have a large family room upstairs that they are supposed to play in. But today, I let them camp in the living room. We brought in the dining room chairs and tied a sheet to them creating the top of the tent. Then we hung other sheets off of the sides to form the walls. I turned on the fire in the fireplace while they brought their pillows and blankets downstairs. I let them eat marshmallows, although I drew the line at roasting them. I didn’t want gooey marshmallows all over the rug. They got out the flashlight and took turns making shadow pictures on the tent walls. It was a real camping experience. At least as real as you can get in the middle of the winter on the living room floor.
The experience definitely brought back childhood memories. We lived in apartments until I was eleven. So growing up the living room was our main play area. I can’t even count the number of times that we made blanket tents with multiple rooms using the furniture in the living room and the kitchen chairs. My mother never complained about the fact that the living room was often impassable unless on your hands and knees. The only stipulation was that the tent be put away before dad got home.
We did take down today’s sheet tent before dad got home. My kids were done playing with it anyway. But they sure had fun while it lasted. It helped make the first day of Christmas vacation bearable. Although at one point, when I was on the phone and both of my daughters were crying and my son was asking for something to eat, I was really wishing they were at school.
See these related blogs:
What To Do Over Christmas Vacation
Daddy’s Little Helper – Baking Christmas Cookies