Tents and childhood go hand in hand. You don’t have to have a big back yard, or go on frequent camping trips to let your child experience the joy of a tent. AND, you don’t have to spend a lot of money on an expensive top-of-the-line model. In fact, a cheap thrift store or garage sale tent that is easy to erect works perfectly–and can be used indoors or out…
When I was a young child, my favorite summer play place was a huge, heavy canvas, green, army tent. My dad would put the big thing up around June and it would stay up until we went back to school and the rains came in September. The tent was big enough that we could stand up in it easily and it had no floor–we’d just use the grass or dirt–so we could haul whatever we wanted to into the tent and not have to worry about tearing it up. There were so many little pin holes from moths and mice and such that if you closed all the flaps and sat in the dark inside, you could see what looked like hundreds of little stars where the light peeped through the heavy canvas.
My own kids also marked the warm season by the tent–we’ve had plenty of backyard campouts and playful, imaginary adventures in a tent. But, with the ease of today’s pup tents, they were able to have a tent up in the muddy, cold, dead of winter in the family room or garage–a great solution for cabin fever and the winter blahs.
Tents provide so many of the qualities children love– a fortress or shelter to hide or sequester oneself in–scaled down to just the right size for a child. A tent can be anything–a rocket ship, a covered wagon, a cave, a hotel room. I have home videos of my children playing out all of those adventures in a faded aqua blue pup tent. I think it is a good idea to specifically choose a used or thrift store tent for play so you won’t be inclined to fuss over what happens to it. An expensive variety made for serious campers may not be the best choice for backyard or indoor play. They do make easy-to-erect character pup tents particularly for children’s indoor play–but these are pretty small. Depending on how many children will be using the tent, you might want something bigger and more longer-lasting.
As a parent, I have some incredibly fond memories of reading story books and having grand conversations with my children while we were curled up in a tent–it provided a place to sneak away for a little one-on-one time in the midst of a busy family scene. So, now that the weather is getting warmer and the kids will be around home more–why not see what sort of adventures they can have with a tent?
See Also: The Fun and Lessons of Co-Ed Sports and Finding Time to Do Things One on One