Forts are great for young children. Sheets over the kitchen table, couch cushions and pillows provide hours of fun. This is our second cereal box fort construction.I saw the cereal box fort in the April 2008 issue of Family Fun magazine in the 'My Great Idea' section www.familyfun.go.com/ Credit goes to Alicia Grazioli in Northville, Michigan. Alicia's directions? Lots of boxes and lots of hot glue. I was unable to find the article in the Family Fun website. After some searching, I did find a detailed explanation of how to build a cereal box fort at
www.reducing-waste.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_make_a_cardboard_playhouse
These directions are pretty detailed but you will get the general idea. Here are some helpful hints-
*Have friends, neighbors, relatives and co-workers help you save boxes. I'll save boxes for you.
*Our cereal box fort measures 4'6" x 6'10" and will hopefully hit the ceiling soon. So far we have used 270 boxes. You people have eaten a lot of cereal. Thank you!
*The right location is key-we have a wall and a cabinet that helps support the fort. We only built three walls.
*One of the reasons we used so many boxes is that I glued two boxes back to back on the bottom three rows so the walls are wider at the bottom. We have forty five children using this fort and it is pretty solid. You might not have to have three double rows but I would recommend one double row of boxes on the bottom.
*Unlike the web directions, I did use lots of glue because of the number of children using the fort. I put a bead of glue like a caulk line along the seams of the boxes (this was a high temp glue gun and would be an adult job).
*Because the boxes are not uniform, there will be gaps, holes and little windows. It's not about architecture so don't worry about it. These little windows are part of the fun.
*Create a door. Connect boxes about four or five feet up.
*Create windows. The children asked about windows and next year our fort will have windows.
*When your children are tired of their fort recycle the boxes.
