Permanent hands-on exhibit where families build giant forts from blankets, pillows and furniture in a 'loose-parts play' room.
Forts is back at the Glazer Children's Museum in Tampa, where kids can spend the afternoon building their own epic fort. It's one of the museum's permanent fixtures, and it's built around the idea of 'loose-parts play' — the kind of open-ended activity where children use natural or human-made objects to expand their own play rather than following a set of instructions. Here, that means families build giant fortresses out of cozy blankets, soft pillows and whimsical furniture, and then curl up with a book inside once the walls are up.
The room leans hard into a 'grandmacore' aesthetic, filled with quilts and antique-shop finds like a refurbished grandfather clock and a mantel. There's a wardrobe nook that feels like something out of The Chronicles of Narnia, and projection mapping that makes the wall paintings move while you're in there. The museum's CEO, Sarah Cole, has described fort-building as an incredible way to spark imagination and creativity, and the setup gives kids plenty of room to do exactly that.
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Beyond this one room, the Glazer Children's Museum spreads across about 35,000 square feet of hands-on exhibits designed for different ages, interests and abilities, blending joyful play with meaningful learning. You'll find it at 110 W Gasparilla Plaza in Tampa.
