Children’s corner
Being around family 24/7 can be pretty tough. Sometimes you just want to go and do something fun outside but that’s unfortunately something that’s not on the cards for a little while at least.
However, you can create your own private, cosy space inside your own home with minimal materials. A place for you to chill out on your own or maybe invite in a trusted sibling to nest and have some fun.
All you need to make your very own, secret blanket fort is, a space or a corner and permission to use it, two chairs and another piece of furniture nearby, pillows, some pegs, some safety pins and some large blankets or sheets.
First you’ll need to figure out what shape you’re going for and how it will be held together. Make a plan that seems sturdy and avoid taping blankets together or to walls as they will definitely fall down.
There are a few ways you could structure your fort depending on the materials you have. You could use some stiff couch cushions piled on top of each other as a wall and use some heavy books to keep the blanket weighed down onto them. Then you can peg the rest of the blanket to two chairs to create your roof.
Other ways of creating a roof could be getting some old broom handles or sticks and put them across the tops of two chairs, just make sure they won’t be able to slip, then drape the blanket over them. You can then weigh the edges of the blankets down with heavy books and make sure they’re taut to create a sloped wall.
If your blanket isn’t big enough try a sheet or safety pin some blankets together. Make sure to use plenty of pins so the blankets don’t rip or stretch from the tension.
Once you have made a pretty sturdy fort, now it’s time to decorate. See what you can get your hands on, battery powered lamps are great and so are fairy lights for creating a nice chill, ambient environment. Once you have lighting sorted (and battery powered lighting is recommended in case things get sat on and pulled down), it’s time to bring in the soft pillows to make up your floor. Blankets and sleeping bags are also perfect for making this even more cosy.
Make sure you have a flap at your entrance and make up a cryptic password for letting people in. Then grab some snacks, a book, a torch or extra light and maybe a buddy, and spend some time in your own private space.
Don’t get discouraged if you have to take down your fort because the chairs are needed for dinner time. Building a fort is most of the fun anyways, any you can just think of new ways to structure and improve your building every time.