- I have three kids under the age of 4, who are currently all at home because of COVID-19.
- This play couch has kept them entertained for hours, and has gotten them to play together.
When my family moved from a tiny Brooklyn apartment to a house in Maine, the first thing I wanted to buy was a Nugget play couch for the kids. Finally, we had the space needed for this internet sensation.
But much to my disappointment, the kids just weren't into it. Nowadays, we don't use it to lounge on or pretend we are in a tiny house, and instead only sit on it to read stories before bedtime.
When I heard about another beloved internet sensation play couch, the $500 Fort couch, I was skeptical. This one came with the added feature of magnets, so kids could build shapes. My architect friend said he was getting one for his two boys, and being someone who is easily pressured into things, I got one for our kids as well.
It was hands-down the best purchase of 2021. Now that they are quarantining for 14 days, my 3 kids spend most of their afternoons on it, in it, rolling over it.
What is a play couch?
The gist of all play couches is basically the same: there are foam pieces with colorful covers that you can use to build anything you can imagine. Brands like Nugget or Figgy offer a couple of square shapes and a couple of triangles.
Fort takes it to the next level. It provides more shapes — like half-moons and cut-out circles that form perfect entry ways — that all have magnets, helping the shapes to stay in place.
The foam shapes are covered in a waterproof pleather-like fabric, which is convenient considering my kids are always spilling, drooling, or licking things, making it easier to clean than the Nugget.
The Fort has saved us during quarantine
When the Fort arrived, my husband had just isolated from all of us after testing positive for COVID-19. Left to parent alone, with frigid Maine temperatures outside, I opened the box the second the delivery truck pulled away.
I had the kids help me put the foam pieces into their covers, one by one, watching their eyes widen at the possibilities. My 4-year-old cheered every time a new shape appeared. That afternoon we made a house, a maze, a slide, and our dog took one of the squares and claimed it as her bed.
The next morning we looked at the Fort website to come up with new ideas of what to make. More houses. More playing. More children giggling at a time I could barely keep it together.
When the holiday break ended, I stacked all the shapes together into a corner of our living room. With the kids off to school and my husband out of his COVID den, I wanted to reclaim some adult space. That lasted exactly 48 hours. Our school shut down because of the number of kids who tested positive only two days into classes.
On the first day of quarantine, I built a slide. My husband was impressed by the building skills I acquired while he was sick. Together we watched our kids go down it over and over again screaming "weeeee" until it finally collapsed. We built a different structure, then used the pieces to pretend the floor was lava and we all had to jump from one shape to the other.
We still have 10 days of quarantine to go, and this play couch is keeping us all entertained.