Bad weather days often present the challenge of keeping children occupied without screens. There is great temptation to let your child spend hours on a computer; however the often forgotten activity of fort building can be fun, educational, and important for your children’s development.
Creativity
Building forts fosters creativity. There are no rules or instructions to follow. Kids have freedom to build something out of their imaginations rather than sitting passively in front of a screen. Unstructured time for kids is essential for developing the ability to entertain themselves, and builds the foundation for real life skills.
Emotional and physical safety
Because kids are creating forts based on their own terms, the fort is considered a safe place. It might provide solace and security from the outside world, especially when that outside world is a stressful place. Forts are only changed by the children themselves, so there is a complete sense of ownership and control. They control who enters and exits, and the safe space inside assists children in developing an important sense of self away from parents.
For kids with sensory processing disorders or on the autism spectrum, forts can be especially effective because the fort eliminates stressful stimuli. For example, the amount of light and noise can be regulated. Things like soft blankets, plush pillows, and bean bags are comforting and provide a sensory pleasing environment.
Teamwork
Unstructured play, where children are forced to work together without parental supervision, requires that kids build skills and learn how to work together as a team. Children must learn how to organize themselves and they even assign roles. There must be some division of labor in order for the fort to be successful.
Critical thinking skills
Forts need planning! Children must learn to use different things in their environment to create a fort. There is a lot of trial and error and problem solving involved because things don’t always go as planned. There may be frustration and tears, but there is much value in kids learning how to come up with solutions on their own. Fort building can even be scientific. Children must create a hypothesis and learn to test ideas over and over until they are successful.
Physical Benefits
Believe it or not, forts can build physical strength. By creating an obstacle course to climb through to access the fort, upper extremities can be strengthened. Even kids lying on their stomachs inside the fort to read or tell stories develops core strength.
Learning through play is such an important element of fostering a child’s development, so give your children blankets, pillows, even leftover cardboard boxes, and encourage them to create their own safe space. While forts oftentimes creative a little inconvenience in living space, there is much fun to be had and many important skills to be cultivated through this type of imaginative play!
All Blogs are written by Professionals in the fields of Nutrition, Human Development and Diabetes.