Crazy FortsCrazy Forts! 69 Piece Buildable Indoor/Outdoor Play Fort Playset, DIY, Build Your Own, STEAM toy , Purple

This is a cute idea, and it could have been a great toy but it's just too flimsy. First, the rods are the thinest, cheapest plastic. You cannot drape sheets or blankets over the structures as they are too heavy. A super thin painter's cloth might be okay. The box top shows a red and a yellow plastic sheet over the structure, but that is not included in the box. Secondly, the connections are so flimsy that if the child bumps it while climbing through his structure, it will fall apart. Kids love building forts! But alas, they'll have to continue using the kitchen table.

Great fun for kids who like to build forts

I expected a lot, and they are definitely more flimsy that I would like. But still usable and we have had fun.

I've spent the last few days building, tearing down, and then rebuilding forts in various parts of my house with one very happy little boy. So to put it succinctly Crazy Forts has been a huge success in my household!I'm not sure what's going on with the many negative reviews. Those reviews caused me some hesitation before placing my order but I'm glad that I pulled the trigger and bought two sets.►In The Box:» 44 bright green plastic sticks» 25 purple balls» Two page instruction manual for various fort designsEach stick is 16-inches long and the balls are roughly the size of a baseball.►Assembly:One of the complaints I saw repeatedly in the negative reviews is that the forts are hard to assemble. This is not true at all! Each purple ball has four arrows that point to the top hole. As long as you align the balls in the proper orientation (using the arrows as a guide) you'll be building intricate and neat looking forts in no time. The entire concept of the "geometrically precise" purple balls is to ensure that the entire fort aligns for quick and easy construction. So if you can align 90° and 45° angles you'll be fine.The other trick to constructing a durable fort with this kit is to use a twisting motion when inserting the sticks into the ball-holes. This ensures the sticks are pushed all the way into the ball and a better overall construction. The various complaints that these forts fall apart is just not the case. I've got my son's fort draped with blankets and with a busy 2.5 year old constantly coming in an out of the fort along with two dogs. The forts we've build have not fallen apart.►Recommendations:If you're considering buying this kit I really do recommend buying at least two sets. One set is enough to build some of the plans including the pictured igloo design. But if your intending on playing in the fort with your child you'll likely want something a little more spacious. Two sets seems to have enough pieces to build a nice big fort that can comfortably fit two children, two adults and two dogs.►Closing:This has been by far my son's favorite Christmas gift this year and I'm sure we'll get plenty more use out of this set. Recommended!

Very fun activity for a small group of five year olds. One understood it right away, two of them understand it but need more processing time, and couple of them don’t get it but enjoy it all the same. Wonderful opportunity for the children to figure out how to work together playing on each person’s strengths. This is followed by great creativity of dramatic play typically involving wolf cubs and bald eagles.UPDATE: I caved in and bought another set. Now that it was their third time working with these, a couple more children have figured it out. So four kindergarteners understand it and are clearly very intellectually satisfied while constructing with it. One is still determined to force it to work with brute strength and trying to bend the sticks to fit ( doesn’t work, but wow, they’re durable) and the remaining child has discovered the satisfaction of holding the sheet of instructions and dictating how the playing will ensue ( today it involved a den of wolf cubs and some humans with a vegetable garden).

So here’s the thing... if your kid is gonna sit in this thing by themselves or doing very little within its frame, this is a great toy. However, if your kid is anything like my 5 year old daughter; who wants you to come play with them, or to put a blanket over the structure or who wants to be a damsel in distress and act out even a drastic dainty arm flail.... you may want to rethink this one... the pieces themselves seem durable enough but the structure itself is small and falls apart with every movement of any piece of the frame. It can’t be a “blanket” fort as it can’t hold the weight of any blanket big enough to cover it. Just one more thing, and I say this last because it may just have been user error on my part, but the instructions are garbage. The structure and design are simple enough but attempting to follow their diagrams had me wasting 40 minutes trying to slightly bend pieces into place and rotating balls just to try to match D to D. After I threw the instructions in the trash it took maybe 10 more minutes to fully disassemble and reassemble. This may sound like a case of “this guy just didn’t know how to put it together”... all I can say to that is you spend your $ and you give it a shot. Shoot me a thumbs up on this review to testify to its truthfulness when you decide for yourself.