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! They usually turn into tents for camp outs or a cozy reading spot.
Amber on
My creative grands have decided to create “tunnels” or rooms in their forts/ tents by taking all the sheets, blankets, pillows, anything that will stretch between tables, chairs, couches & living room furniture- they recently had a sleepover in their tent! But being in Mesa, Arizona it was just too hot inside the tent 1/2 way through the night. We need to gather more playsilks to create a cooler environment! Our 110 degree weather with humidity this summer has just been too much for blankets.
But what a fun time I even had climbing through their rooms to have a tea party in the largest; of course the 9 yr old had the largest, but the 7 yr old had decorated her area with loads of books & flowers; the 5 yr old had lots of sensory toys & the 2 yr old had her favorite stuffies!
Joanie Wiebe on
My son and his friends, ages 5-7, use all the pillows and throws/blankets available to them. They like to play house and create separate rooms. It’s amazing and adorable what they can imagine in such a small amount of space. They also recently have built a fort / dwelling out of giant foam blocks. It had doors, windows, a rooftop, and a steering wheel because apparently it could be driven — on land, sea, or air!
Marschinda Bell on
My 5-year old daughter loves to build forts and often uses all the pillows she can find, any blanket or towel in reach, pieces of cardboard or camping ground pads. :) The ground pads are a fave roof material bc they don’t sag!
Elisa Arias on
I just gave my LO her very first giant play silk (starry night) with clips for her 3rd birthday last week and we set it up between her crib and her changing table and had a beautiful nighttime sky scape to play under! So fun!!
Nicole Pezzolla on
A sense of freedom and privacy is made with a simple sheet or blanket – - and it gives kids an unexplored world of imagination. If they’re old enough, allow them the opportunity to create their own unique world – - or wait for them to ask. This, too, is a learning opportunity for them.
Laurel Whitney on
We love making forts so much, blankets, sheets, silks, anything we can drape over chairs and tables to make a cozy play space or reading space.
Amy on
My kiddo loves building forts using blankets, silks, pillows and their nugget couch, he’ll use anything that is available and of course baby sister loves to join in
Lily Zamora on
We like to use chairs, back of sofa, up against the dog crate! Big blankets get draped every which way to create a big cozy cave. So much fun!
Em P on
My kiddos love building forts! Stick forts against the swingset, blanket forts that span across their bedroom or living room, and nugget forts in the basement! They will stack objects in precarious ways and use clips to secure their blankets and silks. It’s so fun to see their imaginations run wild and reminds me of the epic forts my brothers and I used to build in our living room growing up. 🥰
Meggan on
My child hasn’t started making forts yet but I can’t wait for that magic to begin! Especially with the clips for fine motor skills!
Erin on
My 3 year old LOVES forts! Right now we mainly build them using chairs and blankets, but a playfort like this one would be used so much in our house!!
Lauren Conhartoski on