Hello friends! Today I am excited to be bringing you another amazing, open-ended, battery-free toy that will inspire hours of creative play and hands-on learning, and I’ll even show you how you can use it to work on speech and language skills. If you haven’t heard of Fort Magic construction kits yet, prepare to be amazed! Although my family was provided with a complementary set of materials to review, all opinions are 100% my own, and I am very impressed with what this product has to offer. Read on for a chance to win a set for your family, too!
What is Fort Magic?
Fort Magic is an innovative fort building and construction toy with unlimited building potential to invent “life-size” creative designs. The Fort Magic kit that we received in the mail included a massive amount of tubes and connectors (382 pieces, to be exact), a full-color manual full of tips, tricks, and construction ideas, and a sturdy bag to contain all the pieces when they aren’t being used. The only thing not included at this time in a Fort Magic kit is fabric to cover your creations, but rumor has it that custom fort covers will be available sometime this fall. However, we found that plain old sheets, blankets, and play silks work just fine and allow for plenty of creativity! In the photos in this post, we used three old window sheers to cover our fort and even added some white Christmas lights to make ours extra magical 😉 You can also visit the Fort Magic website for tips on covering your creations with fabric and patterns for sewing custom covers.
Our Experience
Although my three-year-old twins are not able to build a fort with this kit independently quite yet, the colorful pipes and connectors fit together easily enough for them to participate in the assembly of our creations. It has been incredibly fun to watch them learn as we create together as a family- they study the diagrams with us, pick out the correct number of pieces, and work very hard to connect them together “just right.” With two young preschoolers, any activity that helps us teach them to work cooperatively with each other (which can be tough for them) is highly prized in our house, and this one definitely fits the bill.
In addition to social skills, my twins are refining their fine motor skills, expanding their vocabulary, and integrating math concepts such as counting, geometry, and spatial reasoning into their play. The finished Fort Magic creations are awesome for inspiring some pretty fantastic pretend play, which is wonderful for language development, and using the idea book to guide our construction is an ideal way to create a print-rich environment to encourage meaningful literacy, even for children who aren’t reading yet. I’m confident that this is a toy that will grow with my children for many years to come, and I can’t wait to watch them become more independent with their creations as time passes. To read more about what other parents and teachers think about Fort Magic building kits, visit their reviews page.
Building Language with Fort Magic
I would be remiss if I didn’t pop on my speech-language pathologist hat for just a moment and talk about the benefits of construction activities for language development. I mentioned above that building forts is great for vocabulary expansion- not just the obvious nouns and verbs, but also prepositions, descriptive terms, and social language. Building activities are also a great way to practice giving and following directions, which is something young children and children with language delays/disorders often struggle with. Using the Fort Magic kit would be a great way to work on sequencing and storytelling- have children retell the steps of how they built their fort, and the instruction manual would be a great visual support tool for those who are not quite ready to do it just from memory. A big part of my job in the public schools was working with social skills groups, and this type of activity would be ideal for kids who are working on important pragmatic skills such as turn-taking, problem solving, perspective-taking, conversation skills, etc. After the fort is built, the imaginative play that is sure to happen is rich with opportunities for language-building as children interact with their peers.
I am so thrilled to have had the opportunity to review the Fort Magic building kit and share my thoughts with you. I fully recommend this product for families, schools, and therapy settings that value opportunities for creative play and hands-on learning. If you are interested in purchasing your own Fort Magic kit, you can find it for sale on the Fort Magic website or on Amazon (affiliate link). Or, try your luck in the giveaway below!
Giveaway
Thanks to the generosity of Fort Magic, I am super excited to be able to offer you a chance to win your very own 382-piece Fort Magic building set for your family, school, or therapy setting! This set has a retail value of $199, so it’s a great opportunity…enter now and tell your friends, too! The giveaway is open to residents of USA and Canada only- shipping costs are included for eligible addresses. Good luck!
Enter here:
As I mom who’s child suffers from SPD. Fort magic would be great for her. Aside from providing her with a calm place, the piecing of the fort alone would help with her fine motor issues. Thank you for sharing sites as well as your knowledge to help others with their little ones.
It looks like such a fun product- and there are so many open-ended possibilities for creation!
This is really awesome. My step son loves building forts with our furniture and blankets. He would love this! This really brings back childhood memories for me!
I’ve had a permanent blanket fort that has become the go to place for my two year old to hang out while we take care of my 5 month old. We have a little chair in ther, some pillows, and a tablet for him to watch Netflix. He lives it. It has also become a place of refuge for my dog when he has had enough of my son!! Lol.
We end up building so many forts, bear caves, boats, evil lairs and superhero hideouts in our house. Sometimes I feel like I need to string clothesline throughout the living room. This looks like a much better option!
What an amazing kit! I love how you made it even more magical. We’d love to experiment with making our own creations at our house.
I love this fort set so much. I think this is a must for the Christmas list this year.
This makes fort building so much easier. Love it.
Love this! Forts are a great way to introduce new language concepts, social turn taking, and even introducing sensory experiences.
the link didn’t work for me. I remember making forts with pillows and blankets growing up (1960s) and then with my kids (80s &90s). Have a frame to make it all easier would be great!
Sorry Jo’Ann…it’s fixed now! Thanks for your comment and good luck!
My grandson would love it!
I have tried building forts with my son, but we can’t seem to make it work with the materials we have on hand. This would be awesome!
This looks like so much fun! My twins accidentally broke the poles on our last fort/playhouse, but this set looks a lot sturdier. Thanks for the giveaway.
This for kit looks super easy to use and I love that it comes with so many pieces.
The kit looks awesome - what a wonderful idea! The site actually has tips on how to cover the forts and patterns for custom fort covers. I imagine as the kids get older it would be awesome to have them help sew the fabric covers, too.
I would LOVE to have this for my little preschool class! What an amazing product!
Love this toy! My three children would have endless hours of fun making different structures.
I love how this has endless opportunities! I think my husband (who stays home with our little one) would get a kick out of this, too!
My 18 month old son just qualified for speech therapy, and your blog has been a great resource for me. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Looks like a great tool that will inspire endless imaginations
I love the endless possibilities, from submarine to pirate ship (these are both my son’s favorite things at the moment!).
I just finished reading an article in the Atlantic about Over-protected Kids and how the lack of free play and creativity is bad for our kids. I was thinking how this could change at my school and when I checked my email, I saw your blog about Fort Magic. What a marvelous coincidence… If I won this raffle, I would have a jumping off point! Fingers crossed!
We had something similar, but the parts were very hard to connect. This looks like a better design.
This looks so wonderful! I’ve got a 4 year old and a 15 month old. Lots and lots of time ahead for us to enjoy this!
Wow! This is awesome! My favorite is the pirate ship. My niece would love Fort Magic.
I always love seeing how people use their Fort Magic kits! The little cottage looks so inviting! I love how versatile Fort Magic is! You can make so many different designs for buildings and vehicles! I also love all the learning that it promotes!
My daughter has ADHD. After visiting the Fort Magic site and reading the comments/reviews, I was excited to see that a parent of a child with ADHD remarked that the child played with this toy for HOURS. Sounds like heaven.
I’ve seen these before but wasn’t sure about them. Now that you are recommending them, I know they have to be AWESOME. This reminds me of a fort builder my cousins had; we spent hours building different forts and structures with them.
My boys would love the pirate ship.
Ooops, saw that I was supposed to go to their website. I LOVE all the designs they provided, especially the rocket and alien one.
I liked the STEM connections the Fort Magic site provides: not just building but building with purpose!
Oh, the open-ended play opportunities….
We’d love to try Fort Magic! My children are always building and constructing using blankets, heavy duty clips, and whatever they find to make their creations. We’ve even tried another building products but it didn’t have enough pieces to build most the things in the instruction manual. Fort Magic looks like it has enough (and more) to build whatever their imaginations come up with!
I love all the play possibilities the Fort Magic offers.
What a great product that could grow with my curious three year old. Thank you for sharing it with us!
I seriously hope we can get our hands on one of these ASAP! It looks like a blast
I love this product and all of the many creative options it holds. All of my kids would love it.
Looks like it would be a lot of fun, with many creative ways to build. My sons would enjoy this very much!
I absolutely love all the play opportunities. We could build a unicorn castle and a rocket ship!
This is such a great product. I love that there are curved pieces included, adds so many options!
My twin boys love to build, but with this, wow, talk about added learning. This would boost their imagination too, especially the pirate ship.
I liked that there is a pirate ship option! My kids would adore this.
I love how there are so many different options-the kids would never get bored with it! I am ALWAYS looking for ways to get my elementary aged students out of their seats and this would be the perfect way! Also, my nieces would LOVE IT! (3 years and 10 months)
What a great giveaway! My kids would love this kit.
I really like all of the customer reviews and photos! Those kids have wonderful imaginations!
so many design to build project forts its amazing
VERY cool set. My daughter saw this over my shoulder and is begging for a set. Thanks for the opportunity to win this cool set!
I am in love with this set! The possibilities for imaginative play are endless! Not to mention all of the problem solving/critical thinking/direction following/ teamwork etc. practice! My oh my this brings rainy day forts to a whole new level!
It’s so perfect for us living in a small house and as renters. Easy to pack up and move! My almost three year old would love it (and Mommy and Daddy too!).
Wow! this is so cool! Love that there is more than one formation to mix things up and make interesting over and over again.
I have 3 boys, and pillow forts are wonderful, a pole structure would be wonderful!
this sure beats bedsheets over chairs in the livingroom to make forts
What a wonderful product! My kids (and husband) could make so many awesome creations with this! Fingers crossed!!!!
I like the sensory part of the forts. Also the versatility of the product.
My daughters would love this! It is going on our wish list. Such creative and open ended play options.
My little man would love it!
My four kids would have a blast using their imagination to build with this!
So amazing!! I loved seeing all the different (endless) options! My girls would LOVE.
Love the race car!
I love how open ended & creative this toy is. Such a great way to learn !!
My twin boys would love this. We use all kinds of materials to make forts, but this looks super sturdy and versatile!
Wow! That looks great! So fantastic how there is so many open ended play options!
This product like great! I love how it is good old fashioned fun!
Oh my goodness! My little guy and I would have so many adventures with this! What an amazing giveaway!
Do you think this set would work for kiddos who want to go beyond the blueprints? I do a construction and architecture unit with my students and think they’d love exploring with this set but wonder if it would work for my more creative architects who enjoy making their own creation as well as following the diagrams!
Oh yes, Vanessa!! I’d recommend just using the diagrams as a starting point to master the basic construction and then encouraging your students to design their own creations…I’m hoping the twins go that route themselves when they get a bit older!
What’s there NOT to love about a fort! My daughter has loved tunnels and tents from day one and I know she’d love the ability to create multiple forts! I love how much variety there is with this Fort Magic. Even if they never provide the sheets, it’d still be worth it!
I love the versatility of this products…so many combinations!
I love that they include ideas for what to build. I’m not that creative. 😉
I love that there are so many possibilites and that you use your own materials!!
This looks awesome! My 21 month old (who receives speech and occupational therapies) has just started getting really into forts!
i love that there are tons of possibilities with this set; you aren’t locked in to a certain design.
There is so many different ones to choose from. Such great learning experiences!
This would be so great! My 4 year old is very into blanket forts right now and we’re running out of ideas.
LOVE LOVE LOVE FORT MAGIC! Have been coveting this product for a while now. Would love to use this outside over the summer.
I love the all the wonderful options for building it is like a life size tinker toy set. The possiblities with my two boys would be endless.
Forgot to mention that I checked out the website and I think this is the only product of its kind that includes clips to hold on fabric covers. Perfect for using outside where a small breeze could blow those curtains away.
I love how open ended this system is! It’s nice that you can build such ‘big’ things and then be able to take it down. A plus in a small house!
This looks like so much fun. My four would be busy for hours.
I’m so excited about this product! We live to build forts together in the living room. Its awesome family fun and so nice to let my daughter use her imagination and see what she can come up with. This is such an innovative toy. I hope we win!!
This looks like SO much fun!
Ooops, I meant to continue my comment by saying the my ocean obsessed child would love to be inspired by the boat and submarine example!
I love all of the great design ideas!! The teepee and submarine are my favorite :).
This set looks like it would be a great addition to my prek classroom!
This is the coolest product!! My kids love to make forts, and these make it super easy and fun!
Love the play opportunities and how you used a window sheer! The sheer makes it so magical!
I love the endless possibilities for building anything from forts to castles to train tunnels! Great Invention…I’m sure my son would live in his fort/tunnel!
This would be a great toy for my son to use his imagination and build different structures to play in.
How fun! My son would love to build a rocket!
This is the ultimate toy! I so want one and I promise to let the kids play with it.
What an amazing product! The examples on the website were great! Love the boat.
Would love to build some of those forts and maybe let my Son make up some of his own creations! Learning with tactile play like this is the best way to make a lesson stick to the coconut!!!
I love so much about these! I love that they are an amazing tool for the imagination, and I know my kids would have so much fun with this!
This looks like a great product that my 2 kiddos would grow into loving.
So many selections for all….. family fun
I love all the endless possibilities of this toy! And the fact ut’s so easy to build for kids. Definitely on our Saint Nicolaslist this year!
This looks like so much fun! My son would love creating sets for all his pretend movies and plays with this set.
So cool! I love life-size building toys!
One kit, sooo many possibilities!!!! Love the the castle, the canoe, the rocketship…….
I learned that there are lots of different designs. I really liked the airplane shape!
I cannot believe the endless amount of designs! Wow!
I love the idea of this set. It would bring a lot of fun and learning for all age groups at Cornerstone. I like how you referred to the different areas of development it addresses- especially the pragmatic aspect!
I love how kid-friendly the fortmagic.com is! How great that one kit builds 101 different designs!! Crossing my fingers…
OMG! this is awesome! We lobe building with anything and this toy will be well-used at our house..
This is the most fun looking thing I’ve seen in I can’t remember when. I am a Gramma who loves to play with her Grands & Greats, and this looks like something we could use on a daily basis! Thanks for the opportunity!
This would be great for the grandkids.
This looks like it would be great fun, and could also be used outside in nice weather. Nice way to promote teamwork and problem solving, too!
I’m loving this, Stephanie! And the translucent fabric with the fairy lights is perfect for it.
One cool thing about the Fort Magic kit is that it comes with fabric clips- I would have never thought of that!
This looks like an amazing open-ended toy. I love the creative possibilities and all the fun and learning potential for little ones. Thanks for sharing!
Sooo many different options! Endless ways to be creative!
This looks incredible! We would loooovvvveeee one!!
I would LOVE to win!
My daughter loves making forts by draping sheets and blankets over the furniture in our house. She has so much fun moving dining chairs and ottomans around over and over until she’s found the perfect configuration to make her hideaway. Obviously, forts like that don’t really last long. What I love about Fort Magic is that it allows kids to build sturdier (or even permanent, if they wish) forts that they can actually PLAY in, and the endless configuration possibilities doesn’t limit the open-ended, imaginative play that makes fort building so fun to begin with.
This looks like a blast and great for the age differences with our girls!
This is totally AWESOME!!! My granddaughter would love this. She would have a blast in this coming to grandma’s house to play and wouldn’t want to leave.
Wowsers! This makes building a fort ten times more enjoyable. No more “wait, let me fix this sheet that is sliding off” Or “The pillows aren’t holding up your roof? What should we do now?” You build it and then you can focus on playing! Love it!
what an awesome product, endless possibilities. My LOs would love this, 4 and 1.
The link is not working for me.
This looks so awesome…the possibilities are endless! My boys and girl would love it!
I learned that Fort Magic’s mission statement is: “Building Greatness in Children One Fort at a Time.” Love it! I just discovered this blog - can’t wait to recreate some of these activities and projects!
I love that they stand behind their products with a money back guarantee. I know my kids would love this! We’d make the pirate ship first.
We love building forts and this would just bring it to a whole new level! Love how open-ended and creative this is and how it would appeal to my kids’ three different ages. Thanks for the opportunity to win one - hope I do!
Great imagination builders!!! My children would love to be construction workers and build and re-build forts.
This is awesome!!! We used to have an oversized tinker toy set that we made forts with but this is taking it to a whole other level. I love the addition of the lights. So cool!
what a neat idea. like the sea through so it’s easy to glance and check on the kids. thanks for sharing
I love the submarine, so cool!
My kids would love this!!! We have made so many forts and this would be so different and fun!
Who needs a tent?! Let the kids build their own tent/fort and sleep out in it in the backyard!