HOW TO MAKE A TEPEE IN 9,000,476 EASY STEPS *REHASHED*

There are two posts that people come to my blog to read. This is my most popular post, from April 2008. Since it is so well received, and I'm being lazy, I've decided to republish it. So, if you have yet to make your family a tepee, now is the time. Get to work, but first, enjoy our tepee making adventures.

I recently noticed a small article in our local magazine that is mailed to the house.  The Dad has now banned me from reading said magazine, but I really can't understand why.  This article was so cool, it showed how to make a tepee.  I know, I was excited too!  Because I'm so loving and kind (hold your applause) I've decided to share with you all how to make a tepee.

Hopefully, you will all learn from us and not have to spend quite as long as we did making a tepee.

First, gather all the needed supplies:

9- by 12-foot canvas tarp or drop cloth
Measuring tape
Colored marker
Scissors
White cotton rope
10 (8-foot-long) white PVC pipes, 3/4 inch in diameter (you can cut longer PVC pipes to length with a hacksaw)
2 chopsticks or similar strips of wood I had a picture of all my supplies, neatly lined up and staged but somehow, I deleted it.  So, just imagine that pretty picture right here. A few other items you might need if they're handy are: 95 degree weather whiny Girl whiny Boy at least two adults (this will ensure that frustration is evenly dispersed) a ladder The very first thing we will do is MEASURE the tarp.  Because even though, you purchased the 9x12 tarp from that big orange place?  They will have stuffed a returned tarp into the only 9x12 package sitting on the shelf, ensuring that your tarp is actually twice as big as you need.  This will work to your advantage though because once you figure it out you can make a bigger tepee for The Kids.  Before you figure it out though, The Dad will become all kinds of frustrated.  And we do not need that before we even reach step one for goodness sake.  Now, you are ready to actually start. Lay the tarp on the ground and fold it in half forming a 9x6' rectangle.  Measure in 1' on the fold and mark this spot.  Do not let The Dog mark the spot.  Use your handy dandy colored marker.  Now cut a 6' piece of rope, like this:

 

The Dad is really quite trusting.

Now, have one of your children hold one end of the rope tight, not letting it move, at all on the marked spot.  You can either tie the marker to the other end of the rope, or like The Dad, just hold it as you use the rope to mark an arc around the tarp.  If The Girl happens to accidentally let go of her end of the rope, just start over.  It wasn't her fault that a ladybug chose that moment to land on the tarp and she was worried The Dad would mark it and then cut it and all sorts of horrible things.

Ladybugs are so unpredictable.  "SO. Bein' a ladybug automatically makes me a girl. Is that it, fly boy?" Name that movie.

Once that pesky ladybug (that is supposed to be eating the aphids off my roses) flies away, continue on.

Cut the tarp along your neat and perfect line.

Make your whole family hold the tarp taut, so that you can actually cut on the line.

You're almost done!  Check out your pretty tepee shape.

Now, you may notice we have a little triangle cut out at the top.  No worries, that's your next step.

Cut out a 12x6" rectangle to the left of your previously marked spot.  You know, the one The Girl had to hold the rope to?

OK, this is where we veered from the directions at: http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=11445.  You may choose to go follow theirs, or you may decide, like we did that since we're not getting paid to build crafts with kids for a living, you want this thing to actually be functional and real.  And not have to set it up 6 billion times a day as The Kids and their friends run in and out and knock it down.

Their directions say to take 3 of the PVC pipes and loosely tie them together, 2' down from the tops.  Then, just stand them up like an 8' tripod.  Like this:

The Dad chose to do this step alone because.  Well.  just because is all.

Did I mention it was the one day this year that was in the 90's?

Wah-la.  Tripod.  The directions now say to just lay the remaining poles against the tripod.

Once the poles are all in place, just add the tarp!  See how easy it is?  Except, it's not.  When we attempted to place the tarp, we realized the tarp is heavy.  So, The Dad brought out his ladder.  Then the poles started moving and I mentioned that this may not be the most sturdy of tepees ever invented.  So we decided to tie all the poles together, weaving the rope in and out.  And The Dad hacked the poles down to about 6'.  Which, even though they mention the need for a hacksaw, they never tell you to use it.  Just saying.

So, we took the poles down.

At this point, The Kids just about lost all interest in living in the tepee.  Did the Native Americans have to work this hard?

Oh, and you'll also need a little more rope.  We just purchased the kind you use for clothes lines.  It's perfect.

Keep tying...

Don't forget to measure!  Measure twice, cut once.

I think he was trying to make sure that my chair would fit inside his tepee...

Once your poles are all tied together, just place them like we did the tripod.  This is where it's really good to have multiple people because you have to kind of push them up and then pull them out. It's not as complicated as it seems, it just wouldn't be fun trying to do this alone.

Again, if you'd like the "real" directions head over to that other website because we modified.  From here on out, we paved our own way people.  Consider yourselves warned.

Once you have the poles evenly dispersed, you are ready to add your tarp.  Grab the ladder and drop your camera...oh?  I have to put the camera down?  The Dad is mean.

Yeah, I can kind of see why he wouldn't want to do this himself...but put my camera down?  Really?

There you go!  Finished product.  Now, they told us to cut small holes in the top of the tarp at the door and insert the chopsticks.  This is supposed to hold the tarp up.  I'm not quite sure where Family Fun found their chopsticks, but we didn't come across any strong enough to hold that tarp.  We used more of our handy-dandy rope and tied it.  Works perfectly and again, we don't have to keep putting them back in as The Kids and their friends run in and out. 

Let's just take a moment and enjoy all our hard work here.

and

The Boy's brow is covered in sweat.  Is it now too hot to live in the tepee?  Pshaw!  Nope.

Whip out your acrylic paints or whatever you have laying around and let The Kids go crazy with their "Indian" stories...

On a scale of 10, I would rate this a difficulty level of 7.  It is much easier if you follow our modifications.  If we had the knowledge we have now, it probably would have taken us about an hour to put up, including the painting.  We spent about $40 for all the materials, with the tarp being the most expensive thing.  The best part?  The tarp is reusable when The Kids tire of their tepee.

The Kids and The Neighbor Kids love it and play in it quite a lot.  It's easy to just pull up.  While it's quite a lot to store, we just leave it leaning against the back patio and the older kids can haul it back to the lawn and help set it back up.  It was definitely worth doing. 

So, are you going to make a tepee this spring?

Off to find our next project!

Comments

[shelley]

Okay, this looks really cool, but I have two questions...

Can I get it to work on a sloped lawn?

Can I leave it out in the rain? It rains a lot here.

Oh, also...Bug's Life. But it's hardly fair because I've seen that one about a bazillion times.

[Alisa]

I don't see why it wouldn't work on a slope, all of the poles are individually adjustable, just make some shorter or longer as needed at the top/bottom. Ours is on the lawn with the sprinklers and it's suffered no ill. As long as it gets a chance to dry out, I think it would be fine. Once we figured out not to follow their instructions and use our common sense (who knew?) it went together very quickly. It is a great project. Have fun!

[noble pig]

You are seriously the PARENTS OF THE YEAR! Very cool, my kids would love it if I were even half as cool as you.

can oyu show me a small tepee

[Alisa]

I'm sorry, I can't really show you a small teepee. We didn't make one. I'm sure if you just scaled the directions down, it would work!

[calvin]

thanks or the infomation!
my kids LOVE IT!
every camp that we go on, we bring the teepee!!!
thanks man.
email me!
[email protected]

[Lesa Sims]

Great project, wonderful directions, and funny but real step by step.....I have put directions to your tepee directions in our Children's Ministry newsletter for the summer. Thanks for a great laugh!

[Linda Fogel]

You are fab parents. I have 1 question... have you ever had a fire inside of it?
this looks like a fun space to have as a small "campfire" area if the weather is not so great.

[KP Weaver]

Would it be possible to build one of these in a 1st grade classroom? It would be a cool place for kids to hang out and read.

[Shay]

How come you can make something so hard look so fun? Im late to the party here (Like almost 3 years late ) and cant believe how much the kids have grown.

And yes- you are officially the coolest parents ever!