Cardboard Forts

It's cold and rainy outside and you don't want your children returning home covered in mud, slush and impending flu symptoms. Here is a fun activity to make rainy days at home more cheerful and entertaining.

What You Need -

• Lots of cardboard boxes of all shapes and sizes (this is your chance to clear out all the empty boxes you've been hoarding)
• Cardboard tubes (toilet rolls/kitchen paper rolls)
• Strong and broad brown tape
• Box cutter
• Thick markers
• Paint/Glitter or anything else you want to use to decorate the fort

Building Your Fort -

There are many different designs you can make when building your cardboard fort. Innumerable options are available upon a little research online. Below are the basics steps towards building a simple fort.

• Use the larger cardboard boxes (opened up to create large, flat sheets) to build the walls of your fort.
• At the corners of your fort, use carboard tubes to give stability to the fort. Tape together tubes and cut them to size to create the appropriate beams for the fort. Place these tubes and tape them into place on the inner corners of the fort.
• To create doors and windows, cut out holes of the appropriate size from the walls. Tape along one side while sticking back the doors to create a hinge to open the door. Ensure that your doors open outwards to give your child more room inside.
• Decorate your fort by first outlining shapes with a thick marker and then filling in colour or glitter as per your choice.
• There are two options when building the roof for the fort. You can leave the top open, so as to better monitor children while they're playing. Alternatively, you can build a simple 'V' shaped roof, which can be placed on after you have completed the fort.

While collecting materials for the fort, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, remember to use cardboard which is absolutely dry. Any dampness weakens the cardboard and gives off a mouldy odour which is off-putting.

Secondly, if you are unable to find adequate cardboard at home, a useful alternative is to ask at local grocery stores or appliance stores for cardboard boxes they may not need.

This activity is a great way for you to get rid of boxes which you have unnecessarily collected and to create something wonderful out of them.