by Susan Lower

Created on: April 10, 2008   Last Updated: October 02, 2008

"Charge!" screams my three year old son, as he runs head first through a barrier of blankets. The entire ensemble falls down. From inside the collapsed heap, another voice shouts out in dismay. My daughter's precious fort has been defeated. She untangles herself from the blanket pile and begins her work at building it again.

"This time it will be better than ever," she's declares, glaring at her brother.

Around the house she scavenges for marterials to build her fort. She searches the book cases and finds college text books to drag to her fort location. Next, she picks through the laundry hamper to select out fresh lindens I've just washed. Not yet satisfied, she scans room to room for new frame work furniture.

Meanwhile, her little brother retreats back to his corner near the toy box to watch. His little mind calculates his next plan of attack. He pretends to be searching for a car, but mischief is brewing from his corner.

It's all part of the fun of building an indoor fort.

There are many different ways to build an indoor fort with your kids. Of course, there's no right way, but you'll find your kids have plenty of creative ones.

Start out by scouting the house. By this I mean, send out your little ones on a mission to find a place to build. This could be a far off land beyond the mountain ridges and across the desert plains. In adult terms this would be an uncluttered room that is not the kitchen. We usually end up in the dining room, play room, or living room. They seem to be the best three spots for resurrecting our fort.

Next we select the frame work. Four legged dining room tables are the best. Little brothers can't knock the roof down. We pull out the chairs and wrap sheets around the edges to drape down. Above, the sheets are held in place by table cloth clips. Invincible right? Well, if you can't beat it, join it, and under the table they both occupy the space. Except they usually have to tear it down before supper.

We try something new and whisk away four chairs from the dining room table. Arranged with chairs at each corner, my daughter starts her process of spreading out sheets, even her blanket from her bed. She ties the corners of the sheets around the tops of the spines in the back of the chairs. Large pillows from the room next door are recurred for inside. She leaves the door way open to spy on her brother. He stands in his corner, interest peaked, his chin tilted up and his eyes wide and focused. He's thinking. Or maybe he's pooping, but my daughter

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