STEAM: Fort Night Challenge

Here it comes once again—winter! Some folks look forward to the cooler temperatures, impending snowfall and cozier clothing. Of course, some will say, “Bah!” and hope spring comes sooner than expected.

Luckily, there are some fun activities you can do inside the warmth of your home that are creative and delightful, including baking, reading, playing video games, making art projects, or (drumroll please) creating your own Fort Night Challenge!

A Fort Night Challenge, you say, how would we do that? Well, the beauty of this activity is that there is no wrong way to build a fort in your house.

Have a large box or two lying around? Awesome! Get out those markers, stickers, scissors, tape and crayons, and get busy decorating and designing your amazing box fort. Have more than one box? Make the house extra tall! Have some warm blankets or a small pillow? Set them inside your box fort and enjoy your cozy reading spot.

No boxes, no worries! Maybe you have some tall kitchen chairs. Bring four or five of them in the living room, or any open, carpeted space. If you point the seats of the chairs towards the inside of your fort, you’ll have a great place to set snacks or a small lantern for light. 

Find some larger blankets or even the comforter off someone’s bed and drape them over the chairs to create a soft roof. Crawl inside with snacks, toys, comfy pillows—and shazam!  You've created a chair fort.

Take a peek at your couch. Do the cushions come off? If so, get ready, because they make great walls for a short fort. Balance them against each other in a square or rectangle shape and climb inside. Spread a blanket along the bottom for a cushy fort floor. Some pillows or books will go a long way to help keep those sides up.

Now you can watch television from the comfort of a couch fort. Don’t forget snacks! Yum—carrot sticks and ranch dressing for the win!  

The city of San Rafael has a wonderful post on building an indoor blanket fort. They list some great places to create your masterpiece and some tools to help build each fort.

This delightful article from the blog She Knows highlights ways to not only build but decorate your new fort. Fairy lights go a long way in adding some twinkly magic to any blanket fort.

Real Simple has some ideas for making fun, kids-only forts that will keep everyone enthralled for hours at a time. Parents, you may get jealous of these adorable forts and might need to build a grown-up sized one for yourself!