I believe that building a box fort needs no reason; however, three sets of circumstances happened to converge at the right time to make it happen:
- We had the boxes
- Sometime around the kids' first birthday last October, we started accumulating a lot of larger cardboard boxes. Some were from our own practical purchases—upgrades from infant carseats, for example. Others were from grandparents, aunts and uncles showering the twins with gifts in excitement for their first birthday.
- We needed a functional baby-blocker
- Once they became mobile, the kids discovered that they loved grabbing books off of their bookshelf, and the clothes hamper that used to block it became ineffectual and too easy to knock over.
- Box forts are awesome!
- I don't care how old you are, if you don't get excited at the thought of a box fort, then you have no pulse. And isn't having the perfect excuse to indulge your inner-child half the fun of having kids?
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| Behold the glory of the Box Fort (complete with two "rooms" and stuffed animal crow's nest)! |
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| Bookshelf blocking success. |
We kept ours nice and simple, but the internet sure has some awesome box fort ideas in case you're feeling more ambitious—Pinterest, for example, has them in spades.
Ours was made up of just three boxes of varying sizes (a bulk pack box of wipes, a carseat box and a large box previously containing birthday presents for my kids), duct tape and dreams.
Fortunately, all of the boxes were sized to fit perfectly within one other.
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| Cut on medium box |
I simply used a box cutter to cut an opening up one side of the medium-sized box. The length of the cut only goes up as far as the height of the largest box. I then interlocked the medium box and large box by sliding the cut slit over one of the large box's ends.
Both the medium-sized box and the largest box have openings cut into them that are roughly 19 x 19 inches. This is large enough for the kids to easily crawl through.
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| View from the top. Main opening on the left with Winry sitting under the second opening, March 2016 |
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| Henry peek-a-boos over the top, then crawls through the opening, March 2016 |
I also wanted to leave the tops open so light wouldn't be an issue. It also gives the kids the opportunity to peek-a-boo over the top.
For the crow's nest, I simple folded the top flaps of the smallest box over the sides of the medium-sized box and taped it down. It easily displays a few stuffed animals, including our two
My Pals toys.
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| Stuffed animal crow's nest |
NOTE: I highly recommend taping up all sides/corner of the boxes and gaps created from the box flaps. If your kids are anything like mine, they will pull at any exposed opening and unintentional destroy their fortress.
We built this box fort back in March when the kids were about 17 months old. They still love to play in it. They've also discovered the second "room" of the fort to be an excellent hiding place when Mommy asks if they're ready for their nap.
... It's a good thing you kids are cute.
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| Henry invites you in, March 2016 |
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| Winry and Mommy standing in box fort, March 2016 |
