Back in the day, kids were content to play with make shift tents made from their Moms sheets. That is not so with the kids of today. Most are demanding more lifelike play areas, wanting a more realistic look to their pretend world. Thankfully, parents have some really interesting options for their childrens play area.



There are many varieties of play tents available for kids today on the market. When choosing the right one for your child, you will want to take into consideration these few guidelines.

1. Make your choice based on size. You will want to make sure you have a large enough play tent that will accommodate your child and his or her friends, yet small enough to fit indoors.

2. Will this be used indoors or outdoors? There are play tents that are made for either use and come in various shapes and themes. You will want to choose one with mosquito mesh and a water resistant floor for outdoor play.

3. What theme do you want to go with? You can get a theme based play tent or get a plain one and dress it up with your kids favorite characters. Either way, your little one will surely be a happy camper.

Types of Play Tents

Pacific Play Tents: Pacific Play Tents are one of the largest play tent manufacturers offering many varieties for children and parents to choose from. Two of their most popular tents are the Me too and the Find me tents. These two models have shock-corded poles, making them easy to assemble. They also have flame retardant 70 Denier nylon for the material used.

The Find Me play tents come with two windows that can be connected to play tunnels and they have a zipper and velcro on the front door. The Me too play tent is made with a polyethylene flooring and nylon ties on the T style door. The price on both of these play tents is around $25 to $30. Try some of Pacific Play Tents other available products such as the teepee playhouses or bed tents.

Spinmasters Create-A-Room Adventure Zone: These packages are a superheros dreams come true. They offer a Spiderman play tent, complete with an inflatable bed and foot pump all together in one package designed specially for superheros. These play tents are very easy to assemble as the poles are joined by one piece of elastic, making them great for a quick set up and they are very durable. The superhero create-A-Room will run you around $30

Lucy and Michael Play Tents: When moms get together there is no stopping them. When these two moms decided to come up with colorful play tents for their youngsters, they became one of the largest manufactures of play tents. Their tents are made from fun fabrics and are intricately-designed with durable pine supports. Their products are appropriately called heirloom-quality toys and they are not very cheap. A single product might cost you between $300 and $350. These are great if you want to give your child a family heirloom to hand down to their children but they are a bit pricey for just day to day use.

Playhut Play Tents: If your child is one of the kids who loves Sponge Bob Square Pants, then he will love the Sponge Bob Square pants Bikini Bottom Hideaway. This tent is a lightweight, portable tent that is covered with Sponge Bob and his friends from the hit TV show. Some of the features include a twist fold technology allowing for easy folding (patented by Playhut). They also have a flapping door and tunnel port for expandable play. These play tents will cost around $25 to $30.

Playhut also offers a Sponge Bob Square pants Play 'N Fun tent, which is a combination of a slumber hideaway, roll out play mat, a bean bag toss game, cabana with a roll-up-flap door, crawl through tunnel port and a play tent. Priced around $40, this is a good choice for children as it allows a variety of activities.