The Best Grandma Game: Fort Fight with Big Boxes!

Recently, my son ordered a couple of storage bins from Amazon and they came in big boxes. It seemed such a waste to simply recycle them. So I made a game for the grandkids by turning those big boxes into forts.

I could have decorated the boxes and made them look more like forts. But I decided to do nothing–just let the kids use their imaginations. So easy!

What you Need for this Game

Mostly, you’ll be using recycled stuff. And probably materials you have at home.

• Two big corrugated boxes for the forts
• Cardboard rectangles for shields (I used flaps from other cardboard boxes)
• About 24 sheets of used printer paper gathered from the recycle bin (for two players)
• Two colors of tissue paper to make flags
• Two straws or sturdy cardboard strips for the flagpoles
• Glue stick to adhere flag to pole
• One shopping bag for each player to hold their supply of paper balls during the fight

What to Do to Prepare

Make two flags using a different color tissue paper for each. Adhere each flag to a straw flagpole with a glue stick.

Stand the big boxes up vertically to make tall towers. Set the boxes distanced enough from each other so kids from one fort will need to expose themselves to attack the other fort. Affix a flag to each fort by pushing the straw flagpole into the space where the carton flap joins the box.

Crumple the printer paper into balls for the ammunition and put them into the shopping bags so kids venturing from their fort can carry their ammunition with them.

More things to do with a big box: make a cardboard house.

Game Play: Do it Your Way

Since this is your own game, you can make whatever rules you like. Here are mine.

The objective of the game is to capture your opponent’s flag. If you are hit with a paper ball as you advance, you have to go back to your fort and start out again. Whoever captures their opponent’s flag first and returns to their fort unscathed wins.

Once the flag is captured redistribute the paper balls equitably and play again. You can play this game over and over until kids tire of it.

Why this Game Works

Here are reasons why I think this is my best grandma game:

• It requires hardly any preparation.
• There’s nothing to buy–you probably have the components at home.
• For an active game, it’s fairly safe to play. Straws used for flag masts won’t injure kids as sticks could. Getting attacked by a paper ball is harmless. (However, a couple of times in the frenzy, Miss T was hit accidentally by her little brother who was holding a paper ball in his hand but forgot to let it go. I asked him to apologize, and the game continued.)

• This is a game that can be played by kids of different ages. Since my grandkids are three years apart and Little N is just four-and-a-half, if the older one is winning consistently, grandma can step in to even the odds.
• It gets kids outdoors and in active play.
• It doesn’t require a lot of space.
• You can collapse the boxes afterwards and store them in the garage; just re-tape to replay another day.
• Grandma’s Note:
• While this is a single, self-contained activity, you can include it in a more comprehensive vacation program for the grandkids this summer.

Embellishments

While I did nothing to enhance the props for the game, there are additional things you can do:

• Cut out a drawbridge in the front of the big box, leaving the base intact, and attach the drawbridge with string so it can open and close.
• Use a smaller cardboard box to make a turret.
• Have the kids paint their forts with poster paints to individualize them.
• Make shields more protective using heavy-duty tape like duct tape to create handles. You can also paint the shields to decorate them.

I love thinking up games like this to entertain the kids. It takes hardly any effort to set up, requires no costly materials, and extends the life of throwaway items for a little bit longer. It was such fun for the kids that they asked to play it again the next day.

.

Don’t forget to sign up for my email newsletter! Every Wednesday, I’ll give you a new idea for an activity or insight to nurture the little ones in your life. Come visit!