This is how we spent Thanksgiving Day at the grandparentals.
Building a fort.
The kid thought this was a great, albeit tedious fort to make, while I thought the end product looked like something that might happen if Buckminster Fuller designed Hoovervilles.
But whatever.
It was fun.
And best of all, it didn’t require any of those dumb ass “craft of the month” kits or pre-assembled pieces you click together before calling it a day.
No, it required newspaper, duct tape and good ol’ fashion gumption — my favorite materials.
All you do is lay out two big sheets of newspaper and then roll them up, starting from a corner. Roll tightly and you’ll soon have a nice, sturdy-ish tube. Duct tape that mo fo.
Boom. Done.
Now do two more of those until you have three total and then tape the ends together to form a triangle. You’ll need to make a lot of triangles and this part can get sort of tedious. We made 24 triangles but found our fort would have been much better with even more. It all depends on how much newspaper you have on hand, as we ran out.
Once your triangles are good to go, start constructing. We went with a Bucky dome but the design schemes are endless, and best of all, this is a fort any kid can do so long as she has lots of tape.
This has turned into a perfect go-to rainy day activity. Afterward, Emme grabs a good book and disappears inside for hours.
We’ll be tweaking this a bit to make a teepee soon, as I have a hunch these newspaper rolls would be perfect for it. I’ll let you know.
Hat tip to All for the Boys for the cool idea.
Sup, Cry It Out?
This post takes the cardboard fort to the next level. Next rainy Saturday will see this attempted. I’m sure it’ll be a hit. Thanks for the idea (passed on is just fine).
Jason