What is it about forts that bring children (and sometimes adults) so much joy? We’re constantly gathering pillows, chairs, strings and clips to throw blankets over in our living room. While it’s fun to drag every stuffed animal inside and rearrange furniture, it often turns into an afternoon of tearing the house apart (yikes!).

Building forts is such a great opportunity for creative play and I recently went searching for ways to find a balance between building fun and aftermath cleanup. I found some REALLY cool products including DIY Fort Kits and even something called Crazy Forts: a massive TinkerToy type building materials (to use in lieu of furniture).

In the meantime, we’ve been busy perfecting the fan fort; a cool alternative to traditional forts with a fraction of the materials (and clean-up time). You can build a simple Fan Fort with a tower or box fan and a duvet cover (the removable cover for feathered downs & comforters).

Simply affix the opening tightly around the fan with string or clothes pins. Air that remains trapped inside the cover will cause the cover to inflate leaving a cool space for the children to crawl around in. You can line the bottom with blankets and pillows for a fun, interesting space that kids will love.

We had a ton of fun with our fan fort, but I will say it lacks versability. There’s no opportunity to change it and therefore my son lost interest a little more quickly than he would will normal forts. However, it’s an easy and quick alternative if you’re short on time (or energy). Although we didn’t try it yet, it would be neat to set up at night and project a star lamp or Pillow Pet Dream Light!

Do you have a favorite fort building material or technique? I’d love to hear your thoughts below!