A couple of years ago, my mom gifted my girls with an awesome set of vintage-inspired cowboys and Indians that she found at the Nasher Sculpture Center’s fabulous gift shop. The burlap bag of little warriors pretty much goes where ever we do, but our much-loved plastic fellows like to participate in an odd tabletop battle at home as well. We thought it’d be a good idea to give our war-weary toys a good home, so we set about making them some tiny teepees, all from materials we had lying around the house.
Using an opened birthday hat as a template, we traced the hat twice: first, on a piece of thin cardboard (a gift box is perfect), and then on a piece of canvas (any sturdy fabric will do — like a piece of denim). Then we cut out the shapes and glued the fabric to the cardboard. Then, curving the cardboard/fabric back into its original hat shape, we used hot glue to secure the upright teeepee shape. You may want to fold back a flap for an opening in the teepee at this point, or you can cut one out later. We did both, as you can see in the picture above.
Once your teepee is made, go wild painting and decorating it. (Doing projects like these with a toddler and four year-old pretty much means you’re going for an abstract expressionist look… think trippy-hippie, Woodstock teepee rather than the Cherokee Nation kind.) We used some scrap paper to outfit one of our teepee’s flaps, and leather, suede and jute remnants to create tie-backs and decals. For full effect, we stuck some small twigs through the top hole of the teepee, creating a faux support system. The sky’s the limit on outfitting these, so go nuts. Your toys will thank you; and if make them sturdy enough, these could really be handmade shelf-treasures once the kids are all grown up.
