https://www.greenwichsentinel.com/2022/01/21/column-a-world-of-their-own-forts/
By Michael Manning
When I was a kid, some of my best memories were of spending countless hours building elaborate fortresses made from couch cushions, chairs, blankets and anything else I could get my hands on without mom noticing and getting annoyed. I was convinced I was the supreme builder of all things FORT and there was no one equal. Until of course I met my own two kids, my nieces, my now six and three year-old nephews and basically every kid at the Boys & Girls Club.
It’s amazing how kids gravitate to and take such complete joy in building the FORT. I’m not sure if it’s something genetically hardwired or somehow connected to the idea of creativity and building, or the idea of making our own little world. Whatever it is, it’s something kids truly enjoy. It is something they will spend hours doing and with a touch of encouragement can completely transform to a new level of creativity.
Every once in a while at the Boys & Girls Club or school, I’ll bring in materials such as sticks, pieces of cloth material, sheets of cardboard or boxes I recycle and ask the kids/students to build something. Other than helping with some structural integrity issues, I don’t really give them much instruction or tell them what to do. However, without fail the results are almost always a structure, an enclosure, sometimes which includes small structures for the pets, all of which translate into the FORT.
Sometimes this is difficult as a teacher as it almost seems too easy and I feel like I’m not providing a more intricate lesson. However, what it is actually doing is providing an opportunity for them to truly take control of the creative process and define a world or environment with materials easy to use and transformative in its outcome.
For kids there’s nothing more fulfilling than creating your own world. And when you think about it, everything they are exposed to is designed to help them expand, develop and mature into amazing people and future leaders. From schools, to our own kitchens, stores, parks, museums and just about every place you walk into; they are designed to create a specific environment or situation. So with all of this it’s easy to see why a set of building blocks are so simple yet so personal, individually creative and timeless. The FORTS children make are exactly this. An expression of their individual creativity and more simply, something we can take pride in having made with their own two hands.
So as we’re waiting for spring to arrive, with a little bit of encouragement and some objects found around the house, we can encourage our kids and their creative world making capabilities. My favorite and something I see with my nephews is the ever-versatile blanket suspended across the back of a couple chairs. Again, this may seem simple but add a few oversize cushions and you have the beginnings of a fortress of solitude and a world of imagination. Save a few of your Amazon boxes, which all seem to have, and open them up for some ready-made walls. Take this one step further by opening a few boxes, have your kids design them as tapestry panels, then string them together using simple paper clips. Three or four tapestries can be quickly assembled with only a couple of medium size boxes.
You might need some rubber bands or better yet some potato chip bag clips or even some string; basically anything you can find to temporarily tie things together and keep them in place. If you really want to get your kids fired up into a creative fantastical frenzie, stop by a local bike store and ask them for an empty bike box or two. If you cut them apart you quickly have a structure that is close to 4 x 4‘; add a sheet or old shower curtain on the top and they will be in there for hours. You can encourage them to create artwork for the walls using sheets of paper taped up to the temporary walls. It’s also a great place to have an afternoon snack, watch a movie or take a nap. Another cool thing that can be added is some cheap glow sticks to become indoor lighting and chandeliers. With my own kids we would often try to have one wall made from a white sheet that we would then create shadow puppets on. Battery operated lanterns perfect for this as well. Truly, this is really simple but the point is to encourage their individual creativity and ownership in a place of our own that they built and created by themselves.
This past summer at Camp Simmons, we had different age groups ranging from 5 to 16, creating forts with found objects, sticks, leaves and basic household materials. So simple but somehow became one of the most attractive places for the kids to spend time, all because they made it themselves. Until we are outside again this spring everything we need to BUILD A FORT is in our homes waiting to be made. Be it at a camp, the basement bedroom or corner of the living room, they are creative spaces that become their imagination, their environment, their world. The FORT, a world unto itself.
PS: I’m still making forts. Just now its collaborative projects with kids creating large scale functional lemonade stands that serve as fundraising projects with a grant from the State of CT and the Office of the Arts.
Michael Manning is a professional studio artist and educator with his studio on Sound Beach Ave., in Old Greenwich. He is currently co-leading the Developing Artist Program funded by the Greenwich Alliance for Education, The CT Office of the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. His artwork has been part of numerous regional and international exhibitions, solo and group exhibitions in Haus der Kunst Museum in Munich, Germany; Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY; University of Connecticut; Seton Hall University and the Flinn Gallery, Greenwich, CT. Michael also runs the art programs for the Boys & Girls Club and is the Head of the Art Depart at a high school in NY.