There is NOTHING like building a den with the kids. Nothing.
It brings us closer together, and gives us all a common goal – it even means that we are able to co-operate without the bickering that seems to be so much of a feature of the kids play at the moment.
The weather took a turn for the worse yesterday, and so we decided that the only thing to do was get the lounge properly “denified”
But what are the tools of the trade for a perfect den?
This very much depends on your kids, you can pretty much make a den with anything, as long as you can get INTO it. However, the KiddyCharts kids are fond of the chair and duvet cover approach.
This means that the essential ingredients for our dens are:
- Clothes pegs
- A few old sheets, blankets or duvet covers
- Four chairs
- Pillows
- Some imagination
- Take apart rubber – not sure why the kids seemed to think that these were essential toys for one’s den, but they were…and we spent a good deal of time after building the den having fun in it playing with them.
it doesn’t take a degree in engineering to put our den together, just a little bit of kiddy thinking and some pixie dust….
When you are building your den, the biggest tip we can give is let your kids imaginations run wild, and try not to lead if you can; offer advice, but see if they can work out how it’ll all fit together themselves without too much guidance from you..in fact:
- Stay relaxed
- Let the kids take control
- Let them make mistakes
- Guide don’t direct.
This way your kids will get as much out of the experience as possible, and it’ll be an excellent learning opportunity for all those budding engineers!
However, if your don’t have the right stuff, or you want to make a more high tech den, then why not enter the Philips Lighting Den Building Giveaway that we have been made aware of on Facebook?
Den building with Philips – Philips Lighting
There are some great prizes to be won to help those den building genes in your kids. You can win:
- 1st prize – x1 “Ultimate den building pack” (4 x luminaire, tips and tricks pack and den building materials)
- 2nd prize – x 10 1 Mini den building packs (1 x luminaire and tips and tricks pack)
- 3rd prize – x 10 1 Luminaire.
How to enter
Entry is simply, as you can see from the graphic:
- Build a den with your child, and take a video of it, or a photo, or potentially even a drawing
- Share the video, photo or picture on Philips Lighting Facebook or Twitter with the #MyDen hashtag.
That’s it – job done!
The full terms and conditions for this are available on the Facebook post announcing the giveaway – the giveaway closes on October 12th, so a few weeks to get that den building gear all lined up. So why not give it a go?
If you have any other tips for den building then do let us know as well.
This is a sponsored post.
Helen
Helen is a mum to two, social media consultant, and website editor; and this site is (we think) the only Social Enterprise parenting magazine! Since giving up being a business analyst when juggling travel, work and kids proved too complicated, she founded KiddyCharts so she could be with her kids, and use those grey cells at the same time. KiddyCharts has reach of over 1.1million across social and the site. The blog works with big family brands (including travel) to help promote their services, as well as offering free resources to parents of kids under 10. It gives 51%+ profits to Reverence for Life, who fund a number of important initiatives in Africa, including bringing running water and basic equipment to a school in Tanzania. Helen has worked as a digital marketing consultant (IDM qualified) with various organisations, including Channel Mum, Truprint, Talk to Mums, and Micro Scooters. She loves to be creative in the brand campaigns she works on. Get in touch TODAY!