Fun Forts Red/Blue

This has been a great gift for my boys! It's an awesome STEM toy. They are 6 and 4, and they love making forts. The parts are a little more difficult to assemble for my 4yo but my 6yo does really well with them. They require some strength at times when the poles are inserted into the balls. Not all of the holes are the same size, and some are impossibly small. However, there are so many pieces, and options for holes, that most the time the balls can be twisted to fit just right. I'm the type of parent that doesn't mind if my children are given a little hard work when they are playing. It helps them down the road with problem solving. The sturdiness is not an issue. According to some of the reviews, people claim that it can't hold up a blanket. I think these people are just incompetent when it comes to building a structure. I had no difficulty helping my 6yo build this large fort and many others, and it has held up a sheet perfectly every time.

update! Power Your Fun's customer service skills are nothing short of amazing! they reached out regarding my experience with my original 3 star review, and not only sent me a replacement fort, but a Pop Puzzle (which the kids LOVE) AND a handwritten card to apologize again and ensure I am happy with their service and products! I am so beyond pleased and grateful for their time and efforts, and all the toys are getting great use and bringing so much joy to our family! thank you again for everything, I will certainly be checking out more of your products in the future!! -- got this as a gift for a 6 year old, from the pictures, it just looks bigger. I thought they'd be able to build a functional fort, but the pieces are a bit hard to connect and the purple connector balls don't seem like nearly enough to build something bigger. also wish it came with some longer poles for making angled structures. the poles being all the same size makes shaping roofs difficult. I'm not sure any of the suggested models from the instruction sheet are actually feasible for kids to make. honestly disappointed in the product for the price point.

Updated: a year later, it is definitely easier. When you learn how to orient the balls for the correct holes to line up, it’s a much smoother process. Still can be tough to assemble, but now that the holes have been used and stretched out more. It’s easier. And still so fun for the kids! Original: This is NOT easy to assemble. The holes are not all evenly spaced, so sometimes you will get three poles in at right angles, and then have to disconnect all three poles because there isn’t an available 45* angle. Even having the etched hole facing up, the angles don’t always work. On top of that, it requires a ton of force to get the pole all the way in the balls. My six year olds can get them part of the way in, but not enough for it to stay. However. When it is fully assembled, it stays well. Even if one pole gets bumped out, there is enough support for the item to keep its shape. It even holds its shape with a sheet thrown over it. There are a ton of things to build with it, and my kiddos seem to thoroughly enjoy it.

Originally 3 stars: I love the concept of children being able to build a frame that can then become a blanket fort. I was looking forward to being able to keep my dining room chairs and sofa cushions where they belong. But…. But. The plastic rods are VERY hard to push into the balls. I read the reviews that warned of this so I knew it would require adult help to put the frames together. I was not expecting to be unable to do it at all. Even my husband, who works in construction and is very strong, had trouble getting those things in. Between us we broke several rods trying to get them in. And about half the holes we did finally get in stretched in the process to the point that the second time they were used they wouldn’t stay together. They have been sitting in a bag in my deck for two months now, completely forgotten by the child who was so excited to receive them but can’t play with them because of how difficult they are to use. All of this considered, as much as I wanted to love these, I cannot recommend them. Update: the company IMMEDIATELY reached out to me. Apparently some of the sets Amazon ships are older? Anyway, they sent me a new set and it was MUCH better! As in my husband was able to quickly erect a fort my daughter and son to play in. I still struggle with it, but I’ve got wrist and hand problems from an old over use injury. Still too difficult for little kids, but I can definitely see a strong 6-8 yo being able to manage it. I am very satisfied with the new set we were given.

I have mixed feelings on this purchase. While it's fun for my daughter to play with I'm a little disappointed in the product at this price. First, DON'T waste your money on the glowing version like me. Trust me what seems like a measly $5 isn't worth it unless you want green to begin with. The glow factor is laughably weak and dissipates really fast. You essentially need a high power flashlight directly against it to get it bright enough to see in a dimly lit room. In the dark it's _barely_ visible after being in a normally lit room. The glow feature is 100% useless. Second, the pictures in the listing are misleading with the kids shrunk to make the product appear larger than it really is. Read the measurements and you'll realize you're not building a fort with just one kit. Do the math and you'll realize the kids in the picture have 6" diameter doll sized heads. False advertising at it's best. This leads me to the price, which I almost want a second kit to build stuff that's actually cool for the kids but $35 is a LOT for some plastic sticks and balls that are pennies each to produce. This kit would still be profitable at $15, let alone $35. This is way too expensive for the several dollars they've spent in plastic. Plastic has gotten more expensive the last few years, but not _that_ expensive. Now I'll get to what's good about it. The difficulty to assemble people claim is probably weak mothers and grandmothers that lack the strength to shove the rods in the spheres. It takes a bit of force but you'll quickly realize this is necessary as they'll quickly loosen to a manageable amount of force needed. If they were easy to shove together at first they'd fall right out after they get used a little. This was a good idea by the manufacturer when my 2yr old can pull them apart easily after only a few hours of tinkering with build ideas. When it comes to the durability this is also what makes it not so sturdy. The pieces have a decent amount of flexibility to them. This is great to make the pieces themselves near indestructible, but that flex is going to make your kid's dream castle sag without structural integrity. Think of the flexibility of a pool noodle. I tried putting a fairly thick blanket on her new "castle" to have it topple immediately. Switching to a black satin sheet off my bed to block out the light so she has a hidey hole was a fine remedy. Will I buy a second set? That's a strong maybe because I want to build bigger and more intricate things for the kids, but I'll be doing it knowing I'm paying way too much for what I'm getting, which is $5 in plastic with a 700% markup. Don't think I'm negative overall on the product, I just want people to know what they're getting. It's smaller than it appears. It's flexible so curb your expectations in what you'll build, but it's great fun for those of us that grew up building forts out of mom's couch cushions and want to do the same for our little ones. It's hard to put a price on that.

Its hard to connect the balls to the stick and it kept falling apart. I read how to put the stick in the ball and it still didn't work. I love the idea but it's not worth it if they cant use it. ***Update *** I want to thank the company for reading my review and they sent me another one in mail. The sticks stayed in the ball and my kids really enjoyed it. Thanks again for sending me us a card as well. Thank you for listening!

One of the best toys I’ve purchased for my child! It’s a toy that is mentally, physically, and creatively stimulating. We have so much fun setting up forts and playing in them. May even buy another set to expand on what we can do! Even have purchased since as gifts because they are so great!

We put it together the first time without reading the instructions and got frustrated. Once we understood how to build it, it became much easier. Unfortunately when you bump it the whole thing falls apart. What fun is a fort that can't be bumped? I don't think it glows well at all. We left it. It sitting in a well lit living room for 2 days and it still didn't glow well. So then I took it outside to sit in the sunshine for a few hours, and still minimal glow. Finally, I put some battery operated lights around it and tossed a blanket over it. Of course, the blanket collapsed it. So I rebuilt it and tossed a sheet over it. When my 3-year-old crawled in, her hip bumped it and it collapsed again. This is not a great value, and it does not hold up. Very disappointing and not fun at all for my kids.