Homemade Forts

                Summer time is here, time for some fun things to do with the children and grandchildren. How many times have you heard the children say, I’m bored what can I do? When I was little my two sisters and brother would ask my mother for some clothes pins and some old blankets and sheets. When it would rain we would make this inside and when it was nice we would make this out- side. I am talking about making forts. We always had so much fun making different rooms in our forts. Everybody has old sheets, blanket and clothes pins.If you need some clothes pins they're are cheap if you buy them at a dollar store. The children can have hours of fun with a fort. We would leave our forts up until my mother would need her clothes pins for the laundry. We made four different kinds of forts when I was growing up.

1.       The first kind of fort we made when we were really young. Take some kitchen or dining room chairs and throw some sheets or blankets over them. We would make tunnels or rooms with the chairs. This was fun to crawl through or just hide in. This is a great way to play hide and seek with the little ones.

2.       Using your clothes lines outside hang your blankets or sheets over and around your lines. With the clothes lines, it is easier to make rooms or rows. Use bricks or rocks to hold down your fort. Now you can eat outside in your own little fort. You can leave the top open to let in the sun or cover it up like a roof. This fort is so much fun to have outside and enjoy the weather.

3.       If you do not have clothes lines outside just hang some rope between some trees. Then take your sheets and blankets and clothes pin them together to make your fort. You can make this fort any size you like and make several rooms inside. Again leaving the top open lets in the sun, but the choice is yours if you want a roof on top. Put a few lawn chairs inside and use a fold up table and you have a little house to play in.

4.       If the weather is bad outside make this fort inside in your basement. Tie up some rope around the rafters and start hanging your blankets and sheets. This was a fun fort we made year round not just in the summer. But when it got really hot and humid outside this was a fun fort to sleep in overnight. We would roll out the sleeping bags and have a sleep out in the basement in our fort. We would make our own little individual rooms to sleep in.

This brings back so many good memories of when I was growing up. Having fun with your children and grandchildren does not have to cost a lot of money. Sometimes the simplest things can bring such big memories. Everybody has blankets and sheets, why not use them to have some fun from Suzie Homemaker.