Play Tents for Kids - A Great Investment for All Year Round Entertainment
When I first heard about play tents for kids I was not exactly sure how they worked.
By that I don't mean that I didn't understand how to put them up, it was more that I didn't understand how they added to the play of small children.
However, once I saw my kids playing in one it became clear.
Play tents are about a different sort of play.
My kids have always been big into imaginary play and they have had a great imagination, however, when you add a tent into the mix you get something quite different.
I think that kids have this amazingly rose tinted view of camping, they see it as the most amazing adventure and they see it as something which you can't do if you are just a baby.
Hence when you put a couple of kids in a play tent then pretend to be adults; it is great to watch.
In their tent they would read 'newspapers', cook meals for their toys (and any younger child who came round to play), they would even tidy up in their play tent - somehow it was their space and they had a huge respect for it.
I had originally only got the play tent because it was on offer and they said they had nothing to do in the garden.
However, when the weather got hotter it was a great way for them to be outside and not in the sun.
They would often take books into their tent and read when it got too hot in the garden.
Since their play tent was not attached to the ground they could also move it around and put it in the shade if they decided that it was getting too hot inside.
I was rather worried how I was going to tell them that the tent would have to be put away when the weather got worse; but they even managed to solve this problem for me.
The weather had become a little bit more changeable and the return to school was looming; suddenly the summer seemed to be ending.
One day the kids came into the kitchen and announced that they didn't want me to have to worry about their tent when they went back to school, so they had decided to put it away.
I was hugely impressed by their responsibility and think I may have even given them a treat.
I was a little premature in my praise.
On arriving in their room later that night I found that there idea of 'away' was in fact in their bedroom - still in use, just relocated.
My first reaction was to insist that it was put away properly, however, they insisted that they needed it for reading in the evenings; since the eldest was only just learning to read and the littlest was far from reading anything I was a tad suspicious.
However, after noticing that after they were in their PJs each night they chose a book and took it into their tent until I came up for bed time stories I soon realised that this really was an all year round toy.
The play tent for kids which I purchased did start to look a little battered after its first year, but it was probably the most played with and used item they had ever had and they shared it wonderfully.
By that I don't mean that I didn't understand how to put them up, it was more that I didn't understand how they added to the play of small children.
However, once I saw my kids playing in one it became clear.
Play tents are about a different sort of play.
My kids have always been big into imaginary play and they have had a great imagination, however, when you add a tent into the mix you get something quite different.
I think that kids have this amazingly rose tinted view of camping, they see it as the most amazing adventure and they see it as something which you can't do if you are just a baby.
Hence when you put a couple of kids in a play tent then pretend to be adults; it is great to watch.
In their tent they would read 'newspapers', cook meals for their toys (and any younger child who came round to play), they would even tidy up in their play tent - somehow it was their space and they had a huge respect for it.
I had originally only got the play tent because it was on offer and they said they had nothing to do in the garden.
However, when the weather got hotter it was a great way for them to be outside and not in the sun.
They would often take books into their tent and read when it got too hot in the garden.
Since their play tent was not attached to the ground they could also move it around and put it in the shade if they decided that it was getting too hot inside.
I was rather worried how I was going to tell them that the tent would have to be put away when the weather got worse; but they even managed to solve this problem for me.
The weather had become a little bit more changeable and the return to school was looming; suddenly the summer seemed to be ending.
One day the kids came into the kitchen and announced that they didn't want me to have to worry about their tent when they went back to school, so they had decided to put it away.
I was hugely impressed by their responsibility and think I may have even given them a treat.
I was a little premature in my praise.
On arriving in their room later that night I found that there idea of 'away' was in fact in their bedroom - still in use, just relocated.
My first reaction was to insist that it was put away properly, however, they insisted that they needed it for reading in the evenings; since the eldest was only just learning to read and the littlest was far from reading anything I was a tad suspicious.
However, after noticing that after they were in their PJs each night they chose a book and took it into their tent until I came up for bed time stories I soon realised that this really was an all year round toy.
The play tent for kids which I purchased did start to look a little battered after its first year, but it was probably the most played with and used item they had ever had and they shared it wonderfully.