The work of childhood is play. As an adult, you probably don’t think of “play” as “work,” but for your child they are one and the same. Play provides your children opportunities to use their brains, bodies, and senses in ways that help them grow strong, healthy and ready for the world. Ready to learn more about how fort building can boost your child’s brain power? Let’s start with language building:

How Language Building Works

There is a huge, wide range of what’s considered “normal” for language building, but acquiring and using language generally falls into two categories: receptive language, which is understanding what is said, written or signed, and expressive language, which is speaking, writing or signing. Fort building can enhance both.

Forts + Play = Language!

Here are a few ways engage in language building skills while building forts with Toydle:

  • Signage. Make signs for your fort. Give it a name, put a sign on the door that says “Enter” or “Exit.” Our forts are big enough, so you can even label areas of the inside. Divide your Toydle fort into “rooms” and hang signs. Tell your children what the signs say. Ask them questions about it, “Is this where I enter?”
  • Décor. What kinds of items do they want in their fort? Ask them! And, fanfort1depending on the age of your child, you can have them tell you what they want, or you can ask THEM to. “Would you like a pillow?” This is receptive language: listening, processing, understanding and acting on what is being said.
  • Talk it out. Talking with your child throughout your fort building session helps build vocabulary and concepts. Use words like fort, build, stack, connect. For concept building use words like inside/outside, back/front. Name your actions as you’re playing and building, such as, “I went inside the fort!”
  • What’s next? Did you know sequencing is a key part of language development? It involves putting words in the right order. Enhance this skill by asking questions like, “what should go next on the fort?” And, tell stories about what you’re building to reinforce the concept of a beginning, middle and end.

Language Building and Forts: A Perfect Match

There are so many fantastic things you can do with our forts that build your child’s brain power. In the coming weeks, we’ll be exploring more ways our forts are good for building key skills and concepts in children’s development.

Get Your Toydle Fort Shipped for Free

We offer FREE FedEx ground shipping. Free shipping to 48 states saves you money on our American-made toy forts. We offer free shipping on accessories, also, which include panel sets and expansion parts. Don’t miss out!

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