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:
I have a little reading nook for me and my daughter in a corner and she loves when I cover it with blankets supported by chairs. We bring in a flashlight and pillows and read books together in our little book fort 💜
Suzanna on
My sons love using our couch, pillows, and blankets to make a fort. They often pretend they’re building an ant pile! I love seeing what they imagine, come to life!
Wilmid on
My granddaughter has turned her whole playroom into a fort using chairs and a child sized table. The problem with that is she can’t even go in there unless she crawls back into the fort. She says she’s a princess in her castle. She’s not happy when it needs to be taken down so she can play other things and use the table. The play fort would be perfect to leave up on one side of the room and not have to be taken down.
Laurie Storm on
Currently my son uses pillows and cushions with a blanket over top, but the whole setup is pretty heavy and difficult for him.
Ami Dunaway on
My daughter loves using play silks, blankets, pillows, and furniture to make giant forts that take up the entire room. She loves having them go under and over the furniture to make it multilevel and has the most fun.
Carrie H on
My daughters love just piling a bunch of pillows and blankets under our dining room table for a quick fort. We already have a tablecloth on the table, so it’s super easy to build and clean up.
Leah on
We are constantly building blanket forts or “tents”, and use books or pillows to hold the blankets in place around the couch!
Jessica on
We put a blanket over a table and put books on the blanket to keep it in place. We don’t have the play clips yet, but they are definitely on our list. How much easier will building a fort be with playsilks!
Emma on
My son builds “a house” using the play clips and silks and his learning tower then invites me in. Recently he connected a row of chairs using clips and silks to make a train. He loves those clips!
sarah on
My kids like to stack the pillows between the couch and coffee table and make tunnels. They don’t typically build forts on their own, so I think I need to do it first so they see and hopefully use their creativity to mimic me.
Rebecca on
My kids 1, 7, and 11 LOVE using all of our chairs, couches, and pillows to create forts! Then the forts become things like caves for mermaids or hiding from monsters in the forest. Right now we use flat sheets and scrunchies + clothespins to create our forts, so we would LOVE to add some Sarah’s Silks Fort Kits to our supplies!
Natalie Salsgiver on
My daughter loves to make forts on her bed frame with random scarves and blankets found around the house. It’s the perfect reading spot and it feels like she’s out camping!
Shelby on