Enchant Winter Weekends With A DIY Castle Fort
Posted January 17, 2020 by Fort Magic
There’s something magical about castles. Combine that with the magic of a fort and you can have a fun-filled day indoors this winter. Here are some of our ideas from the team at Fort Magic to help you beat those winter blues with some indoor fun!
1. Learn About Castles Around the World
You can bring some learning into your fort building. Research on the internet or do research at the local library for information on castles. There are some good videos out there as well that talk about all the different parts of a castle and what life was like living in a castle.
Spend some time with your child learning about how castles were made. Then, you can crawl inside of your cozy castle fort and read some books on castles or read to them their favorite fairy tales. You can even discuss the different types of castles in history for different people groups.
2. Use Your Favorite Prince or Princess As Inspiration
If your child has a favorite fairy tale, you can plan your day around that. If their favorite is Rapunzel, for example, you can build your fort to look like Rapunzel’s tower. After you’re done, you can hang out inside and enjoy reading Rapunzel or watching the Tangled movie.
You can plan some fun themed snacks centered around the movie as well. Some of our ideas for snacks include star cookies (for the lanterns), carrots (for Maximus), and braided garlic bread with marinara sauce. To make it even more fun, you can hang lanterns in your fort and do some fun Tangled-themed crafts.
3. Ideas for Building A Castle Fort
You can build a basic castle design fort and even use our castle fabric cover. Every Fort Magic building kit comes with fabric clips to make it easy for you to use any material to cover your fort. The castle you build will depend on what fairy tale you’re using for inspiration. You can use blue and clear cellophane for a winter ice castle.
Once you build your castle, line the inside with white rope lights to give it a fairy tale effect. If you have fuzzy blankets, you can put those down on the floor to represent the animal furs they would put on castle floors as rugs.
4. Fun Winter Activities in Your Castle Fort
Once you build your castle fort, you can enjoy all sorts of fun activities inside of it. You can have a snowball fight with some fake snowballs or enjoy your favorite fairy tale movie in the fort together. You can host a craft day to escape the cold outside.
You can spend the day ready fairy tales or make all the meals for that day into picnics in the fort. People that lived in castles enjoyed lots of extravagant feasts and entertainment. You can put together a feast to enjoy in the castle and then have your kids put on a play for the entertainment.
5. Use Props & Costumes to Make it Fun
Of course, every princess and knights enjoys getting to dress up! You can bring out your child’s favorite dress-up costumes for play. If you’re building a Tangled fort then you can build a stick horse from your Fort Magic kit to create Maximus. You could also build a grand horse and carriage if you’re enjoying a Cinderella-themed fort.
Your little ones can enjoy playing in their forts as brave knights save the princess from the fire-breathing dragon. You can get creative with the props you use and even have your child get in on the fun coming up with ideas. If you want to make props, let your little one help you out with what they can. That’s one way to enjoy each other’s company while your child gets to do some hands-on activities. Some fun ideas for props include shields and swords, a drawbridge, a dragon, or a chair covered with red fabric for the throne.
6. Host A Winter Ball in Your Fort
If you have princess costumes, you can have your children dress up in their best ball gown. This would be a fun time to learn about the beautiful dances they did in medieval times. Practice some basic steps with your kids before the ball.
You can help your child create invites to their winter ball and hand them out to friends and neighbors. Your kids can also teach the basic dances to whoever comes to the ball. You’ll want to place tables outside of the fort for all the food. Or, you can create the castle fort to be where you have the food and then use your living room for the ballroom. Make sure you have your guests wear their best ball gowns or their finest waistcoat and breeches.
Photo Credits:
Play At Home Mom Blog: This super-amazing blog is definitely one of our favorites. Loaded with fun ideas for DIY playtime, with an always-present educational spin.
The Artful Parent Blog: One of our absolute favorite creative blogs for children and families. The Artful Parent blog is filled with simple ideas to fill your family’s life with art and creativity. A must see blog for sure.
Fort Magic Customer Photos via Facebook: Visit our Fort Magic Facebook page to see our customer creativity shine with fun pics and videos of families enjoying their Fort Magic kit during playtime.
Fort Magic Customer Photos via Instagram: Visit our Fort Magic Instagram page to see our customer creativity shine with fun pics and videos of families enjoying their Fort Magic kit during playtime.
