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Boredom-Busting Blanket Forts
Rated by 2 members
"BORING!"
My middle child doesn't sugarcoat his dissatisfaction with our lack of rainy-day fun.
My go-to solution on days like this is to return to my own childhood, a healthy part of which was spent huddled beneath the canopy of a blanket fort reading Nancy Drew novels by flashlight.
In fact, my current love for tent camping was probably born on a day much like this one, and I wonder if having a hiding place you've constructed yourself serves some sort of latent evolutionary purpose, or if fun is fun, no matter your generation.
My ponderings are cut short -- "Dere's nothing to DO, Mom!"
"Let's try something not-boring," I say.
I head downstairs, promising they'll like what I have planned. Nolan the middle child is suspicious, but follows anyway.
Because our basement doubles as our family room, we've stored an assortment of blankets for movie-night comfort or overnight guests there.
I open the storage ottoman and select a dark flannel sheet, because any blanket fort worth its cloth is dark inside, providing the perfect excuse to break out the flashlights. I face a couple of high-backed chairs away from the sectional couch and drape the sheet over everything.
"Who forted?" I joke, realizing I'm contributing to the bodily humor delinquency of my three minors. Laughing, the boys drop to their knees and crawl inside our secret hideout.
"Can we have a picnic in here?" asks Nolan, his brown eyes wide in the dark.
More work for me, but at least he's not bored.
Member Comments On…
Boredom-Busting Blanket Forts
OK-OK I get it. I've been yelling at my two boys for messing up their room but your article caused me to rethink the blanket forts. I will encourage forting, as it might be called, for here on! Thanks!
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Thanks so much for this reminder from my childhood !!!I will definetly be doing this with my grandkids this weekend!
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if there is any time for boring to show up, I find that looking up online puzzles and games always seems to fill the void!!!
I especially like the word games and if i can find a good new one the miniture golf games!!!
Another thing i find fun (and I believe this would work with kids of all ages( is taking some tin cans and a tennis ball(or baseball,softball,etc.) and setting up a bowling alley!!! the main thing to remember when setting up your alley is to make sure the back row is centered on the size of the ball you are using!!! should you possibly leave a 4-5 or a 7-8 or a 4-7 you want the ball to be able to hit both on your spare shot!
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I have three or four very large plastic bowls, a couple of turkey basters, a couple of old (but really clean, honest!!!) baby nasal aspirators, a couple of sets of plastic tongs, some plastic syringes (that you get for kid's medicine) and some plastic fake ice cubes (we have shell-shapes, bats and colored cubes), wooden spoons and a food scale. To this pile of stuff, I add the magic ingredient...water! I am always amazed how long our three kids (and neighbor kids, too) will play with stuff in water. I keep a supply of kitchen towels handy and let them go. It's fun to watch them squirt, weigh, pour and stir the time away.
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Great idea!! Our 4 kids LOVE blanket tints too. Awesome for rainy days!
My husband built them a tree house in one of our big trees. They go up there, read, have picnics, role play and create many memories to share with their kids one day.
On another "boring" day, the kids created their own game. They came up with their own pieces, rules, and name of the game. We all played the very interesting yet extremely creative game.
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