One day, the kids were super excited to talk about the fort-building they had done at our winter camp. They wanted to do it again in the after-school program and include friends who hadn’t been at the camp. They suggested bringing their own stuffed animals and blankets to make the forts. The next day, Educator Wendy brought out three parachutes, and Aliza brought a blanket from home. This let us build four cool forts. The kids quickly split into four groups and started building.
Gabriel, Nolan, and Jahmanuel chose to build their fort in a back corner. Gabriel suggested, “Let’s tape this side to the cubby and use strings to tie the other side to the chair.” Nolan and Jahmanuel agreed. But when they tied the parachute to the chair, they saw it was so big that it sagged in the middle. Nolan had a smart idea, “Maybe we can tape this side to the table behind the chairs to stretch it out.” They worked together well, and their plan worked!
In another corner, Aliza, Emily, and Salma used Aliza’s blankets for their fort. “Let’s put the blanket this way so it covers the kitchen,” said Salma. “Good idea, we can tape it to the furniture,” Aliza agreed. The girls set up their fort really quickly and started making it look like a home.
Adain decided to build a fort by himself near the closets. He tied one side of the parachute to the closet door and the other side to the chairs. Anabel and Emelia didn’t have a corner, but they found their own way. They arranged chairs in a circle, put the parachute on top, and adjusted it to fit perfectly. They tied the parachute corners to the chairs, and there was their fort – great thinking, Anabel and Emelia!
After building and decorating their forts, the kids were excited to see each other’s creations. They remembered to be polite when entering other forts. At the end of the day, they decided to share their stuffed animals. “We’re going to adopt each other’s stuffies. We need to sign an adoption paper,” Salma told Educator Wendy. They wrote their own adoption agreements and signed them. In the future, we might learn how to write official contracts and even rent out our forts to learn about rental agreements.
The children worked together in groups to build forts. This involved planning, sharing ideas, and cooperating to achieve a common goal. They encountered challenges, such as the parachute being too big and sagging, and creatively found solutions, like using a table to stretch it out. The children communicated their ideas and plans to each other, which included discussing where to place the forts, how to construct them, and how to decorate them. Some children took the initiative, like Nolan who came up with a solution for the parachute problem, demonstrating leadership qualities. The children showed respect and good manners when visiting each other’s forts, indicating an understanding of social etiquette. By creating adoption papers for the stuffed animals, the children demonstrated an early understanding of agreements and the importance of rules in shared activities.
