Fort Building Contest

One of the funnest things I remember from my childhood is building forts. Part of my joy came from making a gigantic mess that I knew Mom and Dad would clean up, even though they told me to do it. But even though my parents probably won't clean up any more forts for me, making a little shelter out of blankets and books just brings a smile to my face.

Fort making is possible in a large group. "Older" people like contests...a lot of us tend to be a tad more competitive than helpful. With this in mind, here is what I suggest for this activity.

• Separate your large group into teams. The number of teams is up to you.
• Give each group a set amount of supplies. Supplies can be blankets, tape, books, sheets, pillows, couches, tables, chairs, pins, step stools...it all depends on your location, your space, your means, etc.
• Time the contest. A time limit tends to heighten competitive natures, and that's always fun to watch.
• Give the teams time to look through their supplies and make a plan. I suggest giving no longer than five minutes. Most people won't use all that time, and will just want to start working.
• Make sure you have specific things written down that will determine the winning team. It rarely goes over well when someone says, "that one is better" and offers no further explanation. Your qualifications might be size, color, number of rooms (if you want to get really tricky, that is), maneuverability, etc.
• Have some sort of prize available for the winner. Just saying, "Good for you! Buckets of self-esteem!" is hardly worth all the effort of competing. Personalize the prize to your group so that people will really want to win.
• Don't just leave the losers in the dust. Have some sort of prize for them too, or if you'd rather have no losers and all winners (do you understand competing?) you can have different categories of winning, like "most creative" or "most efficient" or something like that.
• When the forts are built, let people chill in them for a while. Have games ready to play or have a movie playing. Forts are no fun to build if you can't play in them for a while.