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:
We have multiple playhouses right now and anticipate wars between them at any time. Having many kids is wonderful.
Charlotte Ellett on
We make due with kitchen chairs and heavy blankets, but we deal with lots of cave ins!
Leah on
My toddler with my 11 year old niece has made a nest/fort with blankets and stuffed animals. Although they tried to hang stuff above it and I think it was too heavy! Maybe playsilks would work better!
Holly Anne Fauth on
My kids have a little picnic table that they’ve used blankets, pillows, and sheets with to create a playfort. They also have a pop up play fishing hut my son got for a birthday that they’ll use as a fort as well.
Danielle b on
We always use chairs and tables and sometimes couch cushions to make our forts! If we got lucky enough to have a big enough box we would use that too. This is such a good idea! We could make the best forts with these clips and make sure our fort doesn’t go anywhere while playing in it!
Elena on
My two-year-old loves to make tents by putting a blanket over my head and climbing into my lap. It is very cozy and warm. We also make forts by placing blankets over the dining room table and putting a warm blanket on the floor. Of course, my 12-year-old comes up with much more intricate forts when he gets involved with multiple sheets and heavy books as weights and includes every pillow in the house.
Lauren Flannigan on
We love making forts out of blankets, play silks, and folding gym mats. Lately, we have been turning our crib into a fort by putting a blanket over the railings. We love to read books inside the fort!
Mayank Patel on
We love using the dining room chairs as the walls of our fort. There are two chairs on each side of our play space. The floor is usually a cozy blanket or play mat with two chairs facing out on each side. We use the play clips to clip tapestries that we drape over the top and then usually tie play silks to be the back and front doors. We do this a lot in winter for cozy play and nap areas inside. Outside we usually do the same using play clips on porch railings and other east to clip spaces for little tents. We would love a play fort kit! Thank you!!
Nicole on
We have a few favorites: her kitchen tower with an extra chair to make a multi level tower with tunnels, an ottoman and the handle on her small trampoline, over the top of her crib with a toddler rail- the 3 high sides make a perfect support! Her favorite silks to use are her double fire and star playsilks.
Samantha White on
We love to create forts that turn into tunnels. Hide and seek is my 1 year olds FAVORITE game! The play fort gives us a fun spot to hide.
Alex on
My girls build forts out of cushions, chairs, play silks, pillows, blankets, and even clothing like robes and coats. We find that a cozy nook can be made just about anywhere and with anything!
Camille on
My daughter is a toddler and has just started looking for small spaces and corners to hang out in. I’m excited to start building forts with her.
Penelope baggs on