Pentagon Den

I decided this week to have a go at making a pentagon den

So I purchased my 25 bamboo canes (I used 4ft canes and these were plenty big enough) and garden wire to secure them together.  First I had to make holes in both ends of all 25 bamboo canes.  You can drill these, but instead I heated up a screwdriver and found I could make the holes this way.  This was the trickiest part as the bamboo canes were very slippery.  Some of the canes split at the ends but I found I could still use them.  Then I had to start securing them together.  First I used 15 of the canes and secured these together into 5 triangles.

Then I attached another 2 canes to one point on each of the 5 triangles. (Don't tie too tightly as you need to be able to move these to canes to get them into the right position)

Then after getting a bit of help, I stood two of the triangles up (so that the 2 extra canes are at the top of the triangles).   Starting with the triangle on the right (no 1 triangle), I attached one of the extra canes to the triangle beside it (no 2 triangle) and left the other cane for the minute as this would be used to form the roof.  I then stood another triangle up (no 3 triangle) and used one of the canes from no 2 triangle to attach to this triangle.  I attached the remaining triangles in the same way.  I was now left with 5 loose canes which I joined together to form the roof and da da, I had my pentagon den. Sounds complicated but it was pretty straight forward.

I attached a piece of plastic to one side for mark-making, a piece of netting to another side for weaving and some sticky strips to another and let the children loose.

 The older children couldn't resist getting involved! They gave the younger children some great ideas.

 You never seem to have enough hands!

At first they were all involved in their chosen area and busied themselves mark-making, sticking and tying.  During the day they tended to come and go.

Links to EYFS:
PSED: Dispositions and Attitudes - where children approach new activities with confidence and interest.
PSED: Making Relationships - where children work together or offer help to each other.
CLL: Language for Thinking - where children talk about what they are doing/ what they plan to do.
PD: Using Equipment and Materials - where children successfully attach materials to the frame.