Fort Couch Cushion

Creating forts out of my living room couch cushions is one of my boys' favorite indoor activities.  I can always count on that to buy me some extra time doing whatever it is I am doing.  Just when they are running out of steam and beginning to annoy each other and need a change of pace, all I have to do is say, "Hey guys, I have a great idea!  Let's make a mess of cushions!"  

"Mess of cushions" is the term we use for this game because it often doesn't even involve making anything really, other than a giant mess.  Now since our last move, we have WAY too many couches in our living room still, which is great news for Ben and Mitchell - plenty of walls, roofs, slides, and parts of caves, cars, boats, and volcanos to use!  

They pull them all off the couches and begin by just making a giant pile on the floor. Next, they wrestle around on this for a while (usually until someone gets wedged head down with feet in the air and can't get out or sandwiched under a large cushion and sat upon until they are tired of it.)  Once they have jumped around in this manner for a bit, the game gets a bit more organized, especially if Matt or I join in and help out.  Matt likes to get technical and build cars and boats with all sorts of details like convertible roofs and windshields and opening doors.  

My construction of choice is just the classic fort.  It is easy, it is sturdy, and all three boys can play in it without having to hold it together in some way, continually fix it, or shoe the littlest brother away again and again.

When we first moved to our newest place, I put a ban on this game because I no longer had a separate family room that could be messed up without messing the whole house up.  They could build forts in one room while I relaxed in another and still have a couch to sit upon.  Now that we are here, I have to sit amidst the wreckage as it happens and know that with each cushion that comes off, is one more cushion I have to help put back on.  

I have recently lifted the ban on "mess of cushions" though because they boys were constantly asking for it.  It really is a fairly easy mess to clean up, it keeps all three of them entertained and playing together, and even burns off a lot of that abundance of energy they always seem to possess.