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 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
My daughter uses the side of a couch and a carefully placed chair to create the walls of a fort. Blankets, silks, pillows all come together to create the rest of the boundaries of the space.
Jill on
Forts come in all shapes and sizes around here. Our youngest (4) loves to build forts in her lower bunk with playclips and a silk and our older kids (6-8) love using the silks and play couches inside and pallets and sticks outside. Even the parents are getting into fort building as we decided to make a permanent outdoor camping structure (i.e., playhouse)!
Diana on
Mine suspend sheets between their beds-they weigh down the blankets with pillows to keep them secure. We have also built forts under the dining room table by draping sheets and blankets.
Brandi Elam on
Mine suspend sheets between their beds-they weigh down the blankets with pillows to keep them secure. We have also built forts under the dining room table by draping sheets and blankets.
Brandi Elam on
My daughter’s kids have the clips and silks and have loved having so many fun adventure’s with them. I have just recently had three more grand kids added to our family, which means three more kids to Christmas shop for. I think they would love to have the fort or even just the clips and silks, they are 2, 4 and 5 so I think they would get lots of fun play out of them.
Holly Carneyhan on
My kids have built forts out of anything they can find. When we first moved into our new house they made a castle out of our moving boxes. When we had to throw those out, we built one outside out of fallen sticks (which somehow still stands today 3 years later). In the house my older two build houses with couch cushions and blankets. Sometimes even just the space under the foot rest of the recliner or table becomes a cave. When they aren’t building for themselves they build for their toys. I think it’s just an innate thing in kids to want to build places of imagination.
Kayleigh w on
My kids have built forts out of anything they can find. When we first moved into our new house they made a castle out of our moving boxes. When we had to throw those out, we built one outside out of fallen sticks (which somehow still stands today 3 years later). In the house my older two build houses with couch cushions and blankets. Sometimes even just the space under the foot rest of the recliner or table becomes a cave. When they aren’t building for themselves they build for their toys. I think it’s just an innate thing in kids to want to build places of imagination.
Kayleigh w on
My son is too young to make his own fort but we play under blankets and pillows and have the best time. I can’t wait until he is a little older and we can build a beautiful silk fort!
Julie Goldstein on
My kiddos love to throw their playsilks on our piklar triangle to make a fort out of! This play fort would make an awesome addition to their little fort
Savannah Nielson on
My daughter loves building forts out of her nugget couch and blankets. It’s so much fun to watch her use her imagination.
Nicole Chagnon on