When I was a kid, I didn’t have a clubhouse or treehouse. I had a bookcase in the garage that could be ANYTHING. It blocked off my dad’s workshop, auto tools and projects, garage band area from the laundry area and the outside refrigerator. We would turn it into a store, restaurant, bar of sorts, laboratory, demonstration area and yes – a barricade for battles when the cars were out of the big part of the garage. If we had a Toydle fort, we’d have never come inside. There were not Nerf guns, crossbows and the like then either. My son recently thinned out his collection of Nerf weaponry and only kept a few for Toydle battles inside and outside. These siblings have a cool nanny who encourages them to imagine, play, battle, create, you name it!

Inside I used tables, blankets and heavy vases to build my forts. That didn’t go so well, usually. As a mom, I enjoy giving our kids the big orange clamps from Home Depot. I love twinkle lights and my kids do too. This gives them that black out option with HEAVY fabric. The colored panels in this video are IDEAL for these battles and so easy to set up and clean up. It’s much harder to fold king-size sheets. These just roll up and go in the duffle bag with the rest of the Toydle. SO much simpler. The colors and cutouts are bright and fun, too.