Activity best for children age 2 and up

The Roman architect Vitruvius said you need three things for good architecture: strength, usefulness, and beauty. One kind of building that architects have been constructing for a long time is forts! Countries and nations design forts for shelter and protection, so they are almost always strong and useful. Making a fort beautiful can be an extra challenge. Forts are also fun to make at home – you may have made one before! You can build a fort indoors or outdoors. When you build a fort for yourself, you’re planning, designing, and creating a fortress for protection, just like an architect would. Let’s make a fort!

Guiding Questions:

What is your plan for the fort? How do you design it to be strong, useful, and beautiful?

Did your final fort come out just as you had planned and designed? What changed and why?

Grown Ups-Are you looking for more ways to extend your child’s learning? Check out these extension activities to build upon today’s STREAM activity!

Reading Connections: 

Fort Building Time by Megan Wagner Lloyd

Real-World Connections:

Discover facts about Native American forts or astronauts in spaceships to inform their creative play.

Math Connections:

Did the design and construction go as planned? A significant part of science and engineering is understanding how and when to make changes, solve problems, and experiment!