Duck Tape Play Tent

Learn how to make a simple, sturdy and cute toddler play tent using Duck Tape.

I’m back at it today with another fun Duck Tape craft idea. I’m going to show you how to create a simple A-frame play tent for kids using strips of Duck Tape that are woven together.

This post is sponsored by Duck Brand.

I have been wanting to try weaving Duck Tape together. It’s such an interesting technique to me. I decided to try it out on a little tent for my toddler so he has a fun, cozy spot to play and read books. It’s sized just perfectly for him, but if your kids are older, you could also make it larger by adjusting the dimensions you cut the wood pieces. I used a few fun colors of Duck Tape, but you could also used patterned tape or make it only one color or use every color in the rainbow. Totally customizable!

If you are intimidated by woodworking or if you’re brand new to it, this is a perfect project for you! It was really easy and I didn’t need any help from my husband. I’m proud of myself for doing it all by myself… you can do it too!

Note: If I were to do this project again, I would probably buy thicker dowels. The ones I purchased were a little crooked and not as sturdy as I thought they’d be. You can use any size dowel, just make sure you also have a drill bit the same size.

Instructions

Step 1: Cut 1×4’s down to length, if needed. Each 1×4 should measure 33″ long.

Step 2: Mark each 1×4 two inches in from one end and 1 inch in from the opposite end. Carefully drill holes with the drill bit at each of these marks. The 2 inch side will be the top of the tent and the 1 inch side will be the bottom.

Step 3: Slip a wood dowel through the top hole of one board, then another. This creates the top of the A shape and allows the wood frame to pivot at the top so it can fold flat. Repeat with the remaining two boards so that the dowel becomes the top ridge line of the tent frame.

Step 4: Attach the remaining two dowels to the bottoms of each of the legs by slipping the dowels through the holes at the bottom of each leg.

Step 5: Cut all of your Duck Tape pieces. The vertical pieces should be 36″ long. The horizontal pieces should be 40″ long. You’ll need 16 vertical pieces and 16 horizontal pieces.

Originally I thought I would stick two long strips of tape together so that the sticky sides were sandwiched inside, but it turns out that’s really hard to do! I could not for the life of me get the pieces to line up and they kept bunching up or getting off-center. I almost gave up on this whole project all together. Then I came up with a solution.

Instead of trying to stick the Duck tape strips to each other, I stuck them to the sticky side of EasyLiner laminate and cut off the extra. This worked like a dream and made the tape strips so much easier to work with!

Step 6: Attach the vertical Duck Tape pieces to the frame. I just looped one end around the top dowel and the other end around a bottom dowel and secured them in place with a little piece of Duck Tape. I used eight strips on each side and if you look along the top edge of the tent, you’ll notice how I staggered the pieces every other one on each side.

Step 7: Attach the horizontal pieces to one of the wood pieces, then weave the strip over, under, over, under the horizontal pieces until you can attach it to the wood piece on the other side. When you do the next strip, make sure you weave the opposite way— under, over, under, over. I used a scrap of Duck Tape to measure my spacing so the pieces looked even.

Want to see this craft in action? Here’s a short video.

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