Build a Snow Fort

Family Adventure

GOAL:  Build family bonds while using your creativity, building coordination, working on communication and teambuilding skills, and learning a variety of science and building concepts.

The ADVENTURE:  Work together as a family to build a snow fort.  You can use small buckets or bowls, shovels, or just your hands. The goal is to work together to practice your communication and teambuilding, incorporate the creative skills of each family member, and have a TON of FUN!!

TIPS:

  Hot Chocolate or  Hot Cider!

  Wrap up in a warm blanket in front of the fireplace and read a book, watch a movie, play a game or just snuggle and chat

  The day after the snow fort is built, while the kids are in school, make a fun addition to the snow fort and surprise them. This could be a sign, window shutters, anything that will be a fun surprise for them and show that you are engaged in what you built together.

  Give them time to 'hang out' in their snow fort. Letting them skip one of their chores would be quite a treat!

Size Wisely

Whether you're building a four-walled fort or a smaller structure, your first step is to measure out the space you'll need. Using a shovel, branch, or broomstick handle, trace the perimeter of the fort in the snow.

Build Bricks

Snow bricks are best constructed using beach buckets, plastic storage boxes, or anything with a uniform shape that's easy to fill. The best snow for creating bricks and snowballs is moist packing snow—not powder. This kind of snow will form easily into blocks, much the way wet sand works for sand castles.

If, however, powdery snow is all you've got, look for snow that's closer to the street or house, or what has accumulated around landscaping. It will be warmer and wetter, and so better for snow-fort bricks. If time is short, grab that Igloo cooler out of storage and use it for making large bricks quickly. Keep yardsticks or old paint stirrers handy to separate the snow from the bucket.

Construct and Fill

Start construction by following the perimeter you outlined in the snow. Think like a bricklayer, spacing bricks a few inches apart, then stacking the next layer with a brick straddling two bricks below. Have another teammate follow behind the bricklayers, filling in the gaps with packed snow. Otherwise, you run the risk of the structure collapsing. As you build, make the inside of the wall or walls perpendicular, for durability.

Sculpt the Walls

Smooth and sculpt the walls of the fort with additional snow, using the smooth side of a snow shovel, a hand trowel or even the top to a plastic bin. The idea is for the outside walls to slant slightly for durability. Think pyramid shape. It worked for the Egyptians.

Ice, Ice Baby

The finishing touch for any snow fort is a coat of ice. Dump some buckets of (cold) water over the walls, inside and out, being sure to work from the bottom up so the weight of the ice doesn't cause a collapse. With an icy finish, your fort will weather almost anything.

Pre-K Adventure

Let little ones contribute by giving them a corner inside the fort to use their creativity on.

Community Engagement Adventure

Time to create a Snow Fort City!

Organize the kids in the neighborhood to build their forts at the same time and you'll have a whole city of forts! What can you do to make this Adventure a community thing?

Use it to teach other kids the fort building techniques outlined above?

Organize a neighborhood snowball fight using the forts!

What ideas do you have?

Teen Adventure

Let Teens take the lead with design, planning and building the fort. Be sure to let them share what they know and what they learn with the family.

Photo Location

Take a picture of your family in your snow fort and post it to your social media sites with the hashtag #snowfort