This camping trip mainstay can serve a variety of purposes beyond providing shelter and sleeping quarters. Set one up in the backyard (this stage makes a great platform for smaller models), and you've got:

• a shady retreat for summer reading, listening to music, or journal writing

• a clubhouse for kids only (siblings, cousins, neighborhood friends)

• a changing room for sprinkler games and kiddie-pool days

• the perfect venue for an after-dinner shadow puppet show (The Little Book of Hand Shadows, published by Running Press, features more than two dozen creatures that are fun for kids to create)

• an insect-proof concert hall for listening to a symphony of crickets and peepers