There is nothing quite like spending an afternoon lost in a world of imagination that can only be found inside of a fort. That fort serves as a top-secret hideout, a treehouse deep in the jungle or anything else that one child can imagine. Forts are where stories are told, dreams are made and the magic unfolds. To children, that magic unlocks journeys that carry them as far as their imagination will allow. A creative way to make a kid’s boat fort even better is adding magical fish to the ocean below.
The creative process starts with a little help from Fort Magic’s Ship Fort Design kit that contains everything you and your child need to sail the ocean blue in a vessel fit for a pirate. There are connector pieces and tubes that come together to create a magical boat that is ready to set sail on a great adventure. Once the structure is built, the element of fun continues by designing the exterior cover of the boat fort. Give your child a few simple pieces of equipment such as an old sheet and a container of fabric markers, then stand back and watch the creativity flow.
When the exterior covering is complete, let your child assist you in attaching it to the structure of the boat fort. Let your child lead the way in deciding where to start and how the covering should drape over the fort structure. It is a simple way to empower your child to make decisions and practice problem solving when encountering issues with attaching the cover to the structure. As a result your child will take pride in the finished product which helps to build healthy self-esteem views as well. Making Fish No magical boat ride would be complete without fish swimming in the ocean alongside the boat.
These creatures are easy to make and gives your child another opportunity to let imagination take over. Start by cutting out fish shapes from cardboard or other sturdy paper material. Make several different sizes of fish to add to the excitement of the upcoming fishing expedition that will soon consume your living room. Find tissue paper, leftover holiday wrapping paper, strips of fabric or anything else you think might make a good body structure for your school of fish. For the eyes of the fish, you can use pieces of tin foil that your child can color or find other shiny material that will make each fish stand out in the ocean.
Give all of these crafty tools to your child and watch in wonder at the fish that come to life before your eyes. Share in the creative process by helping your child come up with silly names for each fish. Talk about where the fish might live in your living room ocean, who their friends are and what they like to eat. When the fish family is complete, it is time to focus on crafting the fishing poles that will be essential in the fishing adventure. You can use cardboard tubes, broom stick handles, rulers or anything else you can think of to serve as the base of the fishing pole.
Attach a long piece of string, or actual fishing line if you have any on hand, to the pole and a magnet or small paper clip at the end to serve as the hook. With everything now complete, it is time to go on a fishing adventure your child will never forget. Go Fishing Scatter your cardboard fish around the living room as your child climbs aboard the magical boat fort and prepares to set sail on the ocean. Watch your child cast the pole out to sea, struggle to reel in the big catch and squeal in frustration at the ones who got away.
The boat fort serves as the vessel to help capture every fish in the sea. The imagination fueling that adventure far exceeds anything that you could come up with by yourself. Benefits of a Fort Fort building provides your child with benefits that video games and other technology devices just can’t provide. At first glance you may only see a new way to spend an afternoon indoors. However, there is far more taking place behind the scenes. Your child is building cognitive development skills such as problem solving, planning and imagination by trying to figure out how the fort will come together.
A level of maturity, independence and confidence begins to form as well when the children take charge of the building process and add elements in along the way that fuels their imagination. As a parent, you can foster all of these skills by introducing the art of fort building as early as possible. Be willing to supply whatever materials your child needs to engage in the building process and try to overlook the potential messy factor for the time being. Recognize the amount of physical play fort building brings and celebrate all of the imagination that your living room can possibly hold inside that boat fort.
