A cozy fort-building space for imagination and shared creation
Red Shield Family Center
As part of HopePHL, the Red Shield Family Center installation introduces a Playful Cozy “Fort Building” space designed to inspire imagination and hands-on exploration. This inviting environment encourages children and caregivers to work together to construct forts, rearrange materials, and create their own playful worlds.
Through open-ended building and shared design challenges, the space supports collaboration as families plan, negotiate, and problem-solve together. The fort-building experience also fosters creative innovation, inviting children to imagine new structures, invent stories within their spaces, and experiment with different solutions. By centering flexible materials and child-led design, the installation transforms everyday play into meaningful opportunities for connection and confidence-building.
The Learning Goals
The Red Shield Family Center Playful Cozy “Fort Building” space fosters collaboration as children and caregivers work together to plan, build, and redesign their structures, negotiating ideas and solving challenges as a team.
It also strengthens creative innovation by encouraging children to imagine new environments, experiment with different building strategies, and invent stories within the spaces they create.
The Team
The Red Shield Family Center installation was created through a collaboration between Playful Learning Landscapes, HopePHL, Allen Pierce of Heima, and students from Temple University’s Tyler School of Art + Architecture.
Supporters
The Red Shield Family Center installation was generously supported by the William Penn Foundation.
