Enjoy a “Constructive” Summer with the Lowe’s Family Fun Projects Video Series Starring Mag Ruffman-Giveaway

We may only be in the early weeks of summer, but my boys are already getting a little stir-crazy. I’ve been making sure that we take lots of bike rides, enjoy plenty of outdoor play and do some fun crafts in the house every few days. But I’m always looking for other ways to keep my boys learning and occupied in warm weather.

So when I heard about the new Family Fun Projects video series from Lowe’s starring Mag Ruffman, I couldn’t wait to check it out. These DIY videos let kids construct fun items including a Beanbag Toss Game, a Chalkboard Table and a Princess Castle…with a little adult help and supervision, of course! Lowes sent me a $50 gift card so that I could try one of the projects for myself and so the boys and I decided to try making the adorable PVC Camp Stools. Since our annual camping trip is coming up in a few weeks, I knew these stools would come in handy!

We bought all the necessary materials at our local Lowe’s store and I was really pleased with how helpful the staff was and how easy it was to find the items we needed. We headed home with our supply of PVC pipe, duct tape and hardware and then got ready to build our stools.

While older children could cut the PVC pipe and drill the necessary holes for the stools with adult supervision, my boys were still a little young for that so Curtis prepped our materials for us by cutting the pipes to the proper lengths and drilling holes in the longer lengths of pipes. Then we sat down and started building!

Zackary was so intent on his work while he was building!

The boys had a lot of fun playing with the PVC pipes and elbows and Benjamin especially had a blast just putting them together in odd combinations. Zackary soon got to work creating rectangles of the pipes though and soon Benjamin wanted to do the same. Then I placed one rectangle inside the other and the boys pushed carriage bolts through the holes in the pipe to connect the two rectangles. They really liked putting on the washers and wing nuts to hold the bolts in place too!

With the frame complete, it was time to make the seat. The instructions recommended using landscape fabric or other cloth cut into a rectangle. Since I have lots of fabric scraps at home for sewing and crafting, I cut some of my scraps to the proper size. Then it was time to make the seats strong enough for little boys with the help of strips of colourful duct tape!

Benjamin needed a little help putting the tape on his fabric to make the seat, but he was still very proud of it when it was done!

Once the fabric had been completely covered with duct tape, I folded the ends over to create seams and reinforced them with more duct tape to ensure that the seats were nice and strong. Then we took the elbows off one end of the frame and slipped the seat into place. And with that, the stools were done! The boys had a great time testing them out and showing them off to their dad.

Lowes wants to give you the chance to get creative with your kids too so the company is very generously offering one lucky Mommy Kat and Kids reader a $50 Lowe’s gift card to try out one of the Lowe’s Family Fun Projects! To enter to win, just take a look at the episodes in the Lowe’s Family Fun Projects video series and leave a blog comment about what project you would want to make with your kids if you won!

Zackary and Benjamin with their finished camp stools. They were so proud of themselves!

My boys had a great time making the PVC Camp Stools and the best part is that not only did they get to enjoy a fun project, they also got a useful piece of furniture to use when they were done! If you’re looking for a great activity to keep your kids occupied that will help them develop some building skills and leave them with a new toy or piece of furniture when they’re done, check out this collection of videos and see which one catches your eye! Making something fun and useful is easy with a little help from Mag Ruffman and Lowe’s!
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