How to Build a Fort

This fort is made from fencing sections, so most of the cutting and assembly centers around the braces that hold the fence pickets together. The most complicated part of the project is creating the hatch, which requires making new braces to hold together the pickets after they've been cut. These need to be screwed to each picket. The other parts are simple to make. Two corner seats can be cut from a single square of plywood, and the flag is simply a piece of decorated cloth attached to a length of PVC pipe, which you can slide into holes in one corner's brace pieces.

There's a lot kids can do in building this fort. While parents will need to handle most of the heavy lifting, such as carrying the fence sections to the site, kids can help out by measuring, drilling, and holding pieces in place.