Philips and Disney Imaginative Lighting would love to see your photos of and tips for den building - £100 Amazon voucher to be won NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

The folks at Philips and Disney Imaginative Lighting would love to see photos of the dens that Mumsnetters' DCs have built.

Here's what Philips and Disney Imaginative Lighting say "Building dens can be lots of fun for children, and we'd love to hear about your children’s imaginary den worlds. Do they use everyday objects to enhance their imaginary world? Do they ever use light to enhance their playtime? We'd love to see and hear about your DC's dens”

Please post a photo of one of your DC's dens here, if you have one.

If you don't have any photos to share, do you have any top tips for den-building?

Everyone who posts on this thread will be entered into a prize draw, where one Mumsnetter will receive a £100 Amazon voucher.

Please note your comments may be included on Philips and Disney Imaginative Lighting's social media channels, and possibly elsewhere, so please only post if you're comfortable with this.

Thanks and good luck,
MNHQ

PS: For some more inspiration, just check out the Philips and Disney Imaginative Lighting dens "how to" page here

Den made easy way... mid sleeper bed helps a lot :-)

This is Dd having a pit stop in her den in our local National Trust stomping ground.

Indoors then sofa cushions, blankets and the good old clothes horse are the items of choice.

When the children were small they had Cando night lights they could carry around, or torches. DD wants some fairy lights for Christmas and I'm looking at a variety of different types, would love some solar powered ones.
Dens can be anything. A table and a blanket indoors, packing boxes taken outside (or taken apart and taped together to make a little room) or teepees and tents made with garden canes and whatever is handy to put over/wrap around.

My daughters have bunk beds so my youngest uses chairs to drape blankets across from the bed to the chairs to make an extra big comfy den - using my pegs (and usually breaking a few in the process) to clip the blanket round the chairs & bed frame. She normally watched a DVD in their or plays with her teddies!

My best tip for Den building is to let the kids take charge- they have the better imagine after all!

We are lucky enough to live near a small wood so one year held a den building party there for DS's birthday.

Never have you seen 7/8 year boys enjoy themselves so much doing an activity that cost £0 and didn't involve screens/technology !

They were dragging fallen branches back to the clearing, working as a team to design it and camouflage it.

They then had a birthday tea of hotdogs (frankfurters transported in a flask to keep them hot), cakes etc in the den.

It was 3 years ago but they still talk about it now.

We leave them to it, they use large blankets, dressing gowns, pillows, cushions and duvets. Ds loves the excitement of building it then sitting on there! I'll try to get a photo next time.

Forgot to say, they don't use big lights but use torches and a couple of times have set up the planetarium to see stars in their massive den!

My DD's favourite ever den was built out of a huge cardboard box. She and her friend had their tea in there, lit by a Halloween lantern. A year later, they both still talk about it.

This is my 2 year old sons den, it's just a pop up tent but nice and simple for him to do when he wants to. His Daddy started a new job today so we had a special picnic in his den to take him mind off missing Daddy.

I love den making, indoors, outdoors, it's all such fun. We have made dens indoors and slept in them and have some lovely local woods for shelter building. Every child should have the opportunity to build a den or shelter in the woods at least once.

Our dens just involved the sofas and our bedding. We were easily pleased!

My eldest did den building with the National Trust recently.
The leader said the most important thing was to get a tree to lean it all on and get a Y shaped stick to start with. Build on from there.

I have to say ds and friends did a good den, but I didn't take a picture, sorry.

Den building is a childhood staple! I remember at every opportunity we used to take a huge old wooden clothes airer out to the garden, turn it on its side to make an A frame, then cover it in old blankets. If the airer was in use, we would use long canes tied up with old rope and make a teepee.

My DCs love nothing better than to bring all their duvets and pillows into the living room and draping them between the furniture. The only challenge is all 4 of them trying to fit in! They have also been lucky enough to do forest school too, with shelter building and cooking on open fires. It's also a great team-building activity- test how weather proof they are with a bucket of water for more fun!!

Here is my dd , we had fantastic fun building campfires and picking autumn things to furnish the den.

DD has loved making dens of all kinds, from a tipped over clothes airer and blanket to full blown wood dens in the woods. Even now, at 12y, she enjoys it!

We love Conkers ... here are a few pictures of our big den making with various friends in the woods at Conkers.

My DDs have made dens in loads of places, these are a couple if my favourites, one is of Dd2 in the luggage compartment on a train she made it her den for the whole journey to London, the second is a cardboard box den.

I recognize some of those children hula!

No photos. Lots of cushions, blankets and sheets. Ignore ignore ignore until all the fun is done, then remind yourself how much fun they had whilst you get them to tidy up.

If they use coffee tables remind them not to nut themselves too often.

My son aged 4 made a den today for his teddy Bears, they had big throws for the roof and little blankets laid on top of them, each bear of which there were 3 all had a torch so that they could see in the dark! My son has a collection of torches; wind-up, press and hold the button and keyring lego man.. Each were put next to a hand of the bear so that they could reach them easily. There were some books for them to read and a few bricks for them to build with if they chose to do so. This was all created before 7.30am this morning and with no input or prompt from an adult!

My DD loves making wee dens. She has just fallen asleep in a makeshift one made out of our duvet and some pillows.

I've recently bought a couple of fleece blankets for pennies and cut holes in the side, so now she can have windows in her dens and i don't worry about wasting good bedding etc.

Any type of box, even a small one works well in this house.

The girls decorate it with felt tips, make it comfy with cushions and use the top (if it is small enough) as their table to eat their imaginary food from. Other than that, they pull the sofa forward, lean the cushions on the top against the wall for a roof and I let them get on with it!

We've built a sensory den in the cupboard under the stairs. The bubble tube is the only specialist thing - rest is a collection of Christmas lights, cheap mirrors, CD's stuck to the walls etc. Very relaxing and kids love chilling in there.

DS loves dens and we've used this to advantage a couple of times when staying in hotels. When they were little we used to make a den for him to sleep in (under the desk tended to work best). It was darker and quiet and he would happily sleep! We did used to go armed with blankets and use all the pillows in the room.

He's a bit big now but often curtains off the lower bunk to create a snug little space.

Definately cushions from the sofa and a couple of big sheets over a clothes horse. Works every time - I remember making similar dens when I was little.