Sit upon bucket seats are perfect for taking along on camping trips. Learn how to make a Girl Scout sit upon with a 5-gallon bucket and some other basic supplies.
My youngest daughter is a Girl Scout, and we recently went on a camping trip with her troop. Before we left, I made a cute camping bucket seat (also known as a sit upon) for each girl to decorate to use on our trip. Each sit upon is made from a 5-gallon bucket. I upholstered the lid of each bucket to turn it into a comfy seat, and the girls can store away their camping essentials like clothes, toiletries and more inside the bucket itself. If you would like to know how to make a sit upon like this to use on your next camping trip, continue reading for the complete tutorial!
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Sit Upon Bucket Supplies
- 5-gallon paint or utility bucket
- Heavy-duty lid
- 2-inch high-density foam
- 10-inch cardboard cake circle
- Sharpie
- Utility knife
- Sewing shears
- Tablecloth material
- Staple gun
- Epoxy (I used this instant dry formula to save time)
- Decorative duct tape, stickers, vinyl decals, etc., for personalizing
How to Make a Sit Upon
Using the Sharpie, trace around the cake circle onto the foam. Deeply score around the traced circle with the utility knife before finishing cutting out the circle with the shears.
Cut a 16″ square piece of the tablecloth material using the sewing shears. Place the fabric piece face down on a work surface. Center the foam circle on top of the fabric, and then top the foam circle with the cardboard cake circle.
Fold the fabric up and around the foam/cardboard piece, using the staple gun to secure the fabric in place.
Work until you have wrapped all the way around the circle, as shown, before using shears to trim away the excess fabric at the center of the piece.
Mix the epoxy according to the product instructions, and use it to affix the finished seat pad to the top of the bucket lid. (I highly recommend wearing disposable gloves as you work. This is some very strong adhesive!) Allow the epoxy to dry completely.
And now, the fun part: personalizing your sit upon! Our girls used decorative duct tape, rhinestone stickers, and vinyl stickers to spruce up each sit upon.
The sky really is the limit to how you can decorate these handy camping seats!
Each time we go camping, each girl can take fill her sit upon with her camping gear, which will be kept nice and dry inside, even if it rains.
And the comfy padded seat of each sit upon will give the girls a place to sit around the campfire! So fun!
Having grown up in a home brimming with sewing notions and paintbrushes, Amy has a deep love for all things creative. On any given day, you’ll find her knee-deep in her latest creative endeavor, with projects ranging from sewing and crafts to home decor and kid-friendly ideas. Amy believes that everyone, regardless of skill level or experience, possesses the ability to create something beautiful, and Positively Splendid was born of her passion for helping others harness their innate creative potential.
We made something like that 30 years ago when we needed a place to carry our fishing stuff down to the lake and then had a chair to sit on! We could also put the fish we caught in the bucket to travel home. However we used a large round pillow form as large as the top of the bucket and we pulled the rubber seal ring out of the track on the inside of the lid. We then wrapped our fabric over the entire lid an tucked the rubber seal ring back in its track holding the fabric inside the lid to hold it all on. Back then we had pretty decals you could soak off paper backing and put on the bucket to decorate it to your own taste. I still have an old one I put my yarn in an use the bucket for a footstool.
How smart to use for yarn storage! I just love that idea!
What a cute, useful idea. Sure beats the woven newspaper seats we made when I was young in the 1950s. Or my daughter made in the 1970s.
I made the same newspaper seats when I was a Brownie in the 80s! 🙂
Amy,
What a cool idea for your camping girls! I have used a 5-gal. bucket for gardening chores for years. I used to just turn it upside down to sit on it, then my husband got a camouflage seat that would fit on top and turn 360 degrees. He gave it to me to use in the garden so I can sit and pick green beans, weed, etc. (I have bad knees) I carry my pruners, fork, gloves, hori hori, etc. inside so I can take my tools with me all over the yard. Your idea of decorating the sides with pretty duct tape is marvelous. Who wouldn’t love all that color on a seat which has storage inside??? Genius!!!
I absolutely love the idea to use this for gardening, Barbara! So smart!
Wow! It looks pretty and you can also use it to store something. Great.