Top Children and Toddler Teepee Considerations for a Play Room or Nursery

Teepees and play huts are becoming all the rage nowadays!

Recently, I purchased a teepee for my son's 2nd birthday, and, soon after, I discovered that a few of my friends and neighbors had owned one, too. Fascinated with all things related to Native American culture, I strongly believe that these are really great ideas, for children and toddlers, for a variety of reasons.

In fact, the benefits are huge, and include:

• They provide children with a general sense of safety and security. Though they may not necessarily be able to verbalize their security needs at such a young age, children always want to feel loved, cared for, safe, and secure. With four sides, that can be placed virtually anywhere in your home, teepees are a great option for this!
• They stimulate imagination and creativity. I firmly believe that growing minds need to consistently be exposed to new, fun, and unique things. Teepees are different, and they are certainly unique, and they provide the perfect opportunity for children to exercise their imagination and creativity! Sure, certain Disney movies have made them popular, namely because of their relation to Native American culture, but children love them because they are fun.
• They provide children with their own space. Even adults need to escape the challenges of the world, if only for a moment. Children are no different. Teepees really make an excellent furniture/décor option for a reading nook or a play room. Children can use this spot to escape from "it all" and focus on things they enjoy doing, away from mom and dad.

During our teepee experience, we identified several things that teepee owning hopefuls should really consider just before purchasing.

In my experience purchasing children or toddler teepees, I've come to realize the overwhelming majority of offerings don't necessarily consist of a lot of materials, however, the material should be of high quality. Really, most teepees only really consist of 3 main elements:

• The Canvas or Fabric -- In the all the models I have seen, this really consists of one large piece that essentially encapsulates the interior of the teepee. Depending on the brand, the canvas or fabric can be a variety of different colors, from brown and yellow to orange and Turquoise. Patterns, such as boy-friendly patterns (like cowboys) or little-girl friendly patterns (like princesses), can also be found above and beyond the more solid colored offerings. I've found that the quality of the canvas or fabric is typically directly related to the cost. For example, the higher the cost, the higher quality the fabric, usually. 100% cotton is preferable, but you will also find options made of 100% polyester.
• The Poles -- In each model that I have seen, generally you will see 4 poles included in the package. Each of these essentially makes up a corner of the teepee when expanded, with the poles being fed through large eyelets, that run the length of the canvas, in the canvas. In order to ensure maximum sturdiness and longevity, I would really recommend that these poles be wooden and durable. Some packages do have plastic poles, however, I wouldn't recommend those. While some packages may have poles that are already assembled, teepees with larger dimensions may require you to simply attach 2 separate small poles together to form one larger pole. In essence, you would start with 8 small poles and, when attached together, 4 larger poles would be formed.
• Adjoining Pole Lace -- Similar to a shoelace, many teepees will come with a lace that is used to firmly adjoin all the poles together, at the top. With holes generally pre-made drilled through the top of each pole, the lace would essentially be threaded through each pole separately, wrapped around them, and they tied off with a knot. There isn't an incredible amount of room for error here. If you ever loose this lace, or it breaks, it isn't extremely difficult--or expensive--just to purchase a shoelace to replace it with.

The dimensions are very important, as they can really vary, dependent upon which type/brand of teepee you purchase. It is really in your best interest to be attuned to this, in relation to the location where you hope to place it in your home. Be cognizant of the size and dimensions of the area itself. While an area, like a living room, may be very wide and open, that may not necessarily be the case if you are dealing with a little reading nook. In this case, even if you wanted a more expensive, larger dimension option, it may not necessarily fit.

Here are some possible dimensions I've seen:

• 69.3 x 69.3 x 42.9 inches
• 45 x 45 x 56 inches
• 36 x 36 x 67 inches

As you can see, dimension offerings really span the spectrum from very large and accommodating to really quite small.