Brilliant Tips For Building DIY Playsets That’ll Put Your Childhood Forts To Shame

Even if you're not a self-identifying "crafty person," I think most of us can agree that playing with our kids' toys beats playing grownup any day of the week. This is exactly why we're excited to partner with LEGO Juniors to design three brilliant DIY playsets that will have you and your little one building and creating together.

Back in our day, the epitome of playtime creativity used to be a carefully constructed pillow fort — complete with couch cushion fortress walls and throw-blanket protective roofs. Nowadays with toy aisles that seem to be dominated with battery-powered this and 5,000-piece that, it can feel like the art of imaginative play is slowly being lost on this generation, which is why it's more important than ever before to get our kids excited about creating. And what better way to do that than to jump right into the fun alongside them?

Luckily, we're all finally old enough to handle hot glue guns and spend our hard-earned money in craft stores, so we can take our own skills beyond the basic pillow fort to create mini-worlds that will excite the kids' imaginations — and yours, too! See each of the scenes come to life, then find out how you can recreate your own playtime magic at home.

The Toy Truck Lover's Construction Site Paradise

Face it: Your kid's play space is already reminiscent of a construction site, so embrace the chaos by helping them put together their LEGO Juniors Demolition Site and building out this simple city scene:

• Use clay to craft your own skyline full of towers that can make up the background of your scene.
• Cut some blue mylar into the shape of a retention pond.
• Roll the excavator truck up next to a pile of gravel from the driveway — or pick up pebbles or beads from the craft store for the same purpose.

The Beach Scene That You'll Want To Visit IRL

Even if your next vacation is a ways off, you can still enjoy some tropical magic with this fun beachy scene:

• If bringing *actual sand* into your home isn't at the top of your priority list (we don't blame you), then use a tan blanket, towel, or construction paper to set up a sandy-looking coastline.
• We used blue sea glass to create our whimsical ocean, but you can also use beads to get a similar effect.
• DIY fluffy clouds with cotton balls strategically placed on sky-blue construction paper.
• Build your own colorful beach balls out of clay, or substitute in colorful rubber bouncy balls of a similar size.
• Park your LEGO Juniors Emma's Ice Cream Truck close by to make sure everyone has access to a tasty treat in the heat.

The Ultimate Race Car Track

The beauty of this race track is that it can fit into any corner of your home since you're in complete control of it's dimensions. Here's how we built ours:

• Shape your own boulders out of modeling clay.
• Place some toy trees and moss from the yard for a true touch of outdoor adventure.
• Spread out a bit of astroturf to separate the LEGO Juniors Snake Showdown's designated track space.
• DIY some playroom-safe flames out of carefully cut construction paper. Roll the ends together and tape them shut to make them free-standing.

This post is sponsored by LEGO Juniors.

Photos: Gregory Reid; Prop Stylist: Christina Wressell; Art Direction: Dana Leonetti/Romper; Editor: Allison Berry/Romper; Senior Editor: Stephan Lee/Romper.