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, closed! Melissa Alfred you won!
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 to build forts with anything and everything – usually her silks are the door or tied as a decoration outside or connecting two structures together as part of an obstacle course!
Genevieve on
My girls use ANYTHING to make a fort! But usually it is the Nugget and the couch paired with lots of sheets, blankets, and pillows. They love bringing any and all toys inside and stay entertained for hours! We love forts!
Annie on
My twins make the space under their loft beds in to a fort. Sometimes they drag in every blanket and pillow we have so we can watch a movie and I can have a sleepover with them. Life can get busy and stressful, but some time snuggling in the fort always helps.
L on
I have several children with special needs and fort building is such a precious activity we often use to meet some of their needs and practice skills. It creates a safe, imaginative space where they can freely explore and express themselves, encouraging their speech and language development. Constructing and decorating the fort involves hands-on activities that engage their senses and provides comfort. Inside the fort, the reduced sensory input helps them feel more relaxed and open to practicing new words and phrases through imaginative play. Watching them interact and communicate within this creative environment shows how fort building supports both their speech skills and sensory needs while having so much fun!
Brittany S. on
My son loves using pillows, sheets, bed and chairs to build fort for camping and tree house. He will even arrange the pillows like a staircase leading to his tree house. Sometimes with the starry playsilk on top, we pretend we are star watching, read books etc. The only downside is we can’t move our tent / tree house to outdoor.
JANE on
My daughter loves using the silks to make a fort with her play couch. She also uses them over her and her baby sister to “hide” them when playing lions. When she’s doing this she calls the play silk a protective furble haha
Melissa Alfred on
My daughter loves using the silks to make a fort with her play couch. She also uses them over her and her baby sister to “hide” them when playing lions. When she’s doing this she calls the play silk a protective furble haha
Melissa Alfred on
My kids make forts all over the place- the backyard, dining room, family room and bedrooms! They love to drape the silks over chairs and hang them with clips. They also love to use the silks to make pretend cook fires and to hang other fun items to decorate. We also use a lot of silks for dress up to play in our forts. Love the open ended play! We’d love to win a fort kit :)
Chrissy on
My oldest loves to build forts in our living room with her collection of different sized play silks. We use clips to connect them to the curtain rod, chairs, shelves and each other, often making the entire room into a giant fort with a canopy of play silks!
Erin on
Our children build forts of different shapes, such as tunnels, circle shapes, towers, tent or playhouse. Then, they place some silks over the top of the fort.
Sarah J on
We use our nuggets for forts and try to tie the silks on the handle, but they don’t stay put! This is such a great idea! :D
Kaitlyn Ledford on
Our Nugget couch and little climber are the most used toys in our home daycare to make forts with! These forts usually stay up and become secret reading spots for my toddler and me after a long day of sharing his mama.
Wilhelmina Laughlin on