Fort Building
Fort building is one of those creative play activities that can be done from ages 2 (with lots of help!) up to the teen years.
When my sons were little adventurers, they delighted in creating enchanted forts - whether at school, in our backyard, or right in the heart of our home. I discovered that having supplies neatly tucked away nearby sparked their imaginations, leading to frequent building sprees. Our living room often transformed into a fantastical construction zone, where sofa cushions became sturdy walls, kitchen chairs turned into towering turrets, and every sheet and blanket was draped like the finest silken canopies. Soon, the entire space beneath became a secret hideaway, where they and the neighborhood children would crawl in, bringing along their favorite toys and books, ready to embark on the grandest of adventures.
Our Playclips are small and easy for children to use to build their own magical fort! They will clip and securely hold Playsilks, blankets, and sheets onto tables, chairs and sofas.
Our new Playforts are the newest addition to our fort building collection. We've heard from parents and teachers how much they love how lightweight and easy the Playfort set is to build and take apart - each Playfort set comes in its own canvas bag for easy storage! See how our friend Liz and her little ones put together and decorated their Playfort here.
Secret play forts are magical places where childhood memories are made. Being given the autonomy to help create their own play space is incredibly meaningful for children - and with simple fort building tools like Playsilks and Playclips, it's easy for them to bring their dream play space to life!
I hope you'll share some ideas of how your children build forts in the comments below. We will randomly choose one winner that will receive a Playfort Kit of your choice on 8/19.
Everyone who enters will also receive a coupon code for 30% of Playforts on 8/19 through email.
We love seeing the many ways our community uses Playsilks to make their own beautiful forts! Indoors and outdoors, big and small, here are a few examples to inspire your next fort building adventure:
Left to right:
My kids love building tunnel forts using the ottoman and our L shaped couch. Almost daily there’s a fort there :)
Brytanny on
I love your products. I use them in my Disarming the Playground, Violence Prevention through Movement Curriculum that I do in elementary schools.
Rena Kornblum on
Our little is just old enough to start forts. They like to use them as places to play hide and seek and say boo! I loved the moments of fort building in my childhood and can’t wait to do more with the little ones in my community.
Autumn Elizabeth on
We still use pillows and build on the couch or drape fabric over chairs. Sometimes they use empty cardboard boxes in the garage and build cities in there if its not too hot.
Rachel on
We live on property with a dense forest- basically a huge fort to a kid. We have a very whimsical tree that is bent in an arch. Add some leafy beds and hang silks and it becomes the most magical fort for my 3 and 1 year old. They will spend the whole morning imagining there.
Shelby Baldwin on
My kids love making a fort under the dining table or using the chairs! I also find them in their room surrounded with anything taller than them to hang blankets or play silks on so they can play underneath.
Lyonesse Smith on
My kids have bunk beds and one of their favorite places to build forts is with silks or extra sheets off their beds they make the outside into a playscape (waterfall and stream, desert, mountain, space etc) then use the space behind as a secret fort. They also build outside with lawn furniture, trees, sticks etc or use anything moveable indoors to build forts. A favorite is to build with one wall the existing bookshelf so they have a reading fort.
Audrey on
My son loves draping silks and blankets over his Pikler for a makeshift tent, and his 6 month old brother loves to crawls over and peek in. There are usually an assortment of stuffed animals friends that are brought along “camping”, and sometimes a snack or two. Nothing like a good fort!
Charlotte on
This looks very engaging and would love to use with my 2 year old
Melissa Renz on
My kids like to make a fort using their beds or using chairs!!
Rachael C. on
My daughter loves a cozy nook to bring her stuffy family into. Whether inside or outside the silks have become an integral part of her fort building. Nothing brings me back to my childhood quicker than watching my daughter create an entire world of her own out of silks and pillows and chairs and boxes and branches and just about anything she can find!
Kassi B on
My 6 year old loves turning his bedroom into one giant fort. Especially when the cat decides that’s the place to hang out for the day. He makes individual rooms for each pet and himself. He’s even found clever ways to be able to safely sleep in them at night that doesn’t paranoy his mom!
Kayla Beck on