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"A Kid's Guide to Building Forts"

First off, if you know me well, you will know that the title of this post is not one of my own creation. The first clue for most of you would have been the quotes, and the second for those of you who know me would be the word "kids." After all, kids are baby goats.... "MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" However, that is another post for another day!


Today, we are going to look at an amazing thrift store find, at 56 cents this book rocks!!!  With all of the interest in building forts with our Fridays deemed as "Fun Fort Fridays" this was not an item to pass up!

The book gives you a little bit of history on fort building and then goes into different types of forts and it even gives you practical tips on how to build them! It even gives you step by step instructions for lashing with photos.  The children have been studying the drawing illustrations carefully and making their own plans for spring/summer forts!  (The section on winter forts did not provide our friends with any new information. Although, they were pleasantly surprised to see 3 different types of snow forts that we have already experimented with! "Hey, that's like we did!")

The indoor fort building has continued to expand, with new materials and techniques almost daily. "Every day is Friday!" (Well, at least in terms of Fun Fort Building!)




Do you have a great outdoor fort?? I'd love to see it, help inspire us as we make our outdoor play space changes by linking up your ideas here!


Comments

Ticia said…
Not a kid built one at least. Mainly we have a playscape, which I need to go out and swing a kiddo on right now.
Unknown said…
you could do a whole project on fort making! Now THAT would be fun!
Amy,
Your children are so fortunate! What fun!!
When my son was school aged (he is now 29, and back living at home while taking 2 years of an after degree program, so as to be able to teach science in high school - but sorry I've digressed); when he was in grade school his teacher taught her class about "quinzes" (not sure if I have the spelling right(?!)
To make a quinze we piled boxes and boxes of freshly fallen snow in a round pile of snow to the size we wanted. Then we waited a day or two, for the snow to settle, and then dug out the snow starting from the side (a door opening), and then we would have a cozy, shelter to play in. My thought is that these are shelters that are used by people who like to camp out in the winter, but not sure if I'm recalling correctly.
Brenda
Brenda-
From what I remember of quinzes you are exactly correct! We are fortunate enough to have mounds of snow here, but haven't made one in awhile. With taking the child directed approach, I tend to follow their lead. They are well aware of the option, but have made other choices for our outdoor forts this year :).

Pam-
We have been learning and working on all kinds of different fort techniques. Most of the projects have been on a large scale, but If there is interest, we are going to work on lashing techniques with a mini-world over the next couple of weeks. I'm hoping that we can make some models of what the children would like to see outside so that we can put our plans into action when the snow melts!
Anonymous said…
We found a fort this winter that kids in the neighborhood had built back by the creek behind our house. I was so excited by the discovery and told Sam that when she was just a little bit older she would be able to come down to the fort by herself or with friends to build on it. She was so excited.
I told some other moms in the neighborhood about it and they were APPAULLED that I would let her go down there by herself or just with other little friends. I said when she is four or five, why not? I can see it from our back deck and would hear her if she screamed. It is probably only a football field away from our house with a creek in between. What is the big deal? "That is just too far away from you. You never know what can happen when you aren't there. People don't build forst anymore, anyway." That is what they said.
SO SAD! Glad to see another mom still embraces the fort building.

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