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 3 year old loves using a big sheet to build a fort but we have no real way to build it up so this would be so great for him!
Ashley Lower on
We like using our nugget couch, chairs and blankets to build forts. Right now the fort of choice is a freezer box with a unicorn yoga mat and lantern inside. It is nice to have the box because we can color inside and also read books and use it as a hideout.
Jessica Lynch on
My little one and I use her Nugget and lots of blankets to build cool forts! We put books, her search and find play silks, and her babies in the fort so she has different activities to enjoy! She also just really enjoys knocking the fort over and rebuilding it!
MacKenzie on
My older daughter loves tying up the playsilks to make a giant playsilk and uses it over the dining table to make a little fort. 🥰
Sonika Soni on
My kids use play silks with clothespins to make canopies, but then drag over giant couch cushions and pillows and dining chairs to build out their forts to multiroom playhouses, à la Bluey :)
Courtney on
My little one loves to use blankets inside the fort to make it extra cozy. A bunch of pillows and her babies (a plush dog, fox, and giraffe) are VIPs that join her inside the fort.
Kasia on
she loves to burrow under blankets, pull things over her head and use pillows !
kish on
We started making forts with our son as part of a rainy day/winter day ritual. We would bake muffins and while they were in the oven, we would make a fort, and read. When teh muffins came out, we would eat them in the fort and have a tea party. Now that my son is seven and has a little sister, it has been a joy to see him pass on this tradition to her.
Kristian on
My son loves building forts out of sheets, pillows and chairs. He always puts up a sign that says “no stinky dogs allowed” 😂 to try to keep out our two aging dogs with bad breath. The biggest challenge has been trying to build an indoor forest! But anything is possible with imagination
Clare on
My husband and I absolutely love creating forts with our daughter in our living room out of all of the couch cushions and the pillows from our entire home. Our little girl loves helping build it then we all get to have our own little hideout together to play, laugh, and enjoy good music together.
Selena on
My 2.5yo makes caves and burrows. She’s big into peekaboo, so anything she can get under/behind is a fort. Would love to give her some giant playsilks to use for forts!
Meg on
We LOVE using our play silks to build forts, one of our favorite things ever!!!!!
Anna on