Blanket fort

For the record label, see Couch Fort Records. For the Civil War base, see Fort Pillow.

A blanket fort suspended on strings

A blanket fort is a construction commonly made using blankets, bed sheets, pillows, and sofa cushions.^[1] It is also known as a couch fort, pillow fort or sheet fort.

As a staple of early childhood entertainment, blanket forts are commonly referenced in children's books, such as Corduroy's Sleepover and If You Give a Pig a Party. Parenting books frequently suggest building blanket forts as an activity for parents to participate in with their children.^[2][3] Many activities can take place in a blanket fort, such as reading, playing board games, or watching a movie. Blanket forts can be enjoyed by all ages, including teenagers and young adults.^[4]

Variations

• One type of fort resembling an A-frame tent is made by a string or rope tied between two points (doorway, couch, armchair, etc.) with a blanket draped over it.
• Another type of fort is the bubble tent, wherein a large, lightweight blanket, with books around the edge, is blown up with a fan.^{[citation needed]}
• Probably the most popular type of blanket fort is made simply by draping a blanket over a tall piece of furniture such as a high armchair or couch.

In Media

One of the Vancouver Film School's featured 48 Hour Film Fest winners was Fortified, a film about an unemployed man who decides to live in a blanket fort.^[5]

In the movie, The Sixth Sense, Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment) is seen hiding under a blanket fort from Kyra Collins (Mischa Barton).

In the episode "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design," from the American television series Community, Troy (Donald Glover) and Abed (Danny Pudi) build a large blanket fort in the student dorms that resembles a city.

In the movie Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, the Baudelaire children, having just lost their parents in a fire, build a blanket fort after they have been entrusted to Count Olaf (Jim Carrey).

On May 27th 2011, Lincoln Military Housing and military families in San Diego built the world's longest blanket fort. It was 475 feet long and required over 3500 feet of PVC pipe.

Competition History

In 2011, the first Den building championship took place near Wadebridge, Cornwall (UK) amongst 20 teams of varying nationality. The winners of the first competition were Matt Lodge and Tanya Sharapova^[6].

References

1. ^ Ford, Judy. "Wonderful Ways to Love a Child". 1995.
2. ^ Balance: A Guide to Life's Forgotten Pleasures. Bob Kerstetter, Andrew Shanley. Hyperion. 1997. The infamous Aaron Jelly Apenbrinck from the social network "Facebook" took this architectural phenomena to a whole other level when he built the first two-story blanket fort and posted numerous pictures of its masterpiece on his site. He is amongst many people who could never grow up. Thus doing this makes him feel like a child again.
3. ^ Blanket Forts
4. ^ Atik, Chiara (March 5, 2010). "A Blanket Fort Slumber Party In Brooklyn". GuestofaGuest.com. http://guestofaguest.com/events/parties/a-blanket-fort-slumber-party-in-brooklyn/. 
5. ^ 48 Hour Film Fest - Fortified
6. ^ "Local team build the best bedsheet fort!", Wadebridge Herald, (July 17th, 2011)

External links

• WikiHow:How to make a blanket fort