In the past year, people have had a lot more time at home, especially at home with kids who are growing up and getting bored.
The term “What to do in Corona Virus” is getting a lot of action in searches.
If you are looking for a creative project to work on with your kids, you may want to consider building an old fashion treehouse.
There is something to be said to revisiting activities that were popular for kids when we were growing up, especially if you feel like your kids may overdose on screentime any moment now.
You may be looking for ways to spend quality time with your kids, or ways to get them away from the T.V. and IPAD. Maybe you are looking for a father & son activity, a mother & son activity, or another iteration of family activities.
You may even be looking for a way to stream new revenue by opening a treehouse for Air BnB. That last one may sound far fetched, but it has happened at least once:
Whatever your motives are, kids can learn a lot of valuable lessons from building a treehouse with a parent. We’ve compiled a list of Ten Good Reasons that you should think about starting this kind of project right now.
1. How To Use Tools
We started out with this one because it is the most obvious, so we figured we would get it out of the way. Kids simply don’t have a lot of opportunities to interact with tools these days. There is a lot of value in teaching kids how to respect tools and how to use them properly. These types of skills will maybe be used for the rest of their lives!
2. Using Creativity & Imagination
Building a treehouse can be a very creative project. You can even get extra mileage by drawing plans with your kids before you ever pick up a hammer.
Aside from the obvious creativity that goes into building, you can work in other media on these types of projects to help them expand their vision.
Once the treehouse is built giving kids a chance to use leftover paints from other projects will allow them to flex their creative muscles more.
3. The Importance Of Getting Outside
We already mentioned the damn screens and how they are dominating the lives of our kids. Extended screentime impacts the overall mood of humans, causing depression and a lack of motivation.
In contrast, getting outside will expose kids to sunlight which is a mood improver. We all know how good a little fresh air can feel. Sometimes kids need a reminder.
4. The Value Of Hard Work
Building things is hard work, but it also produces tangible results. Your kids can learn the rewards of perseverance and putting in a bit of elbow-grease on projects like building a treehouse.
5. The Value Of Family Time
It can be hard to get in good, quality time with kids. Building a treehouse is a good opportunity to get in some positive and constructive time with the family and teach kids that their parents and other family members still have things to teach them.
6. Planning & Making The Most Out Of Materials
Building a treehouse can be a perfect opportunity to teach basic lessons about economics. If you have building materials from leftover projects, encouraging kids to think about how they can be used teaches the value of making the most out of what they already have.
This can also be a great time to talk about budgets. If you set aside a small allowance for kids, you can use this as an opportunity to talk about ways to save money and when it is worth it to spend a little more on higher quality products.
7. Respect For Nature
Talking to kids about nature will help them learn valuable lessons. Discussing how they can build a treehouse with limited damage to the tree will help them see how much trees add to our lives.
Also, kids who interact with trees, plants, and wildlife will often intrinsically develop an appreciation for plants and animals.
8. How It’s OK To Make Mistakes
When you are building a treehouse, you can give kids a chance to experiment and make mistakes. Of course, you don’t want them to learn these lessons with power tools, but if you sometimes let them work out problems rather than stepping in when they are making small mistakes, there can be a lot to learn in these opportunities. They may see that it is OK to take risks and that sometimes you can learn from small failures.
9. Basic Physics
We really like ropes and pulleys here, so we encourage you to work with your kids on building simple pulley systems. This may be a fun way to teach them about mechanical advantages.
They also can learn lessons about which materials are more sturdy, and how building strong foundations with support systems will make their treehouse hold up better.
10. Teamwork
One of the most important things that kids can learn is the value of cooperation and coming together with other people to form a common vision. If you have multiple kids, they can potentially learn how to work together in these types of scenarios. Even for an only child, if they can come together with their parents to figure out how to get a project done, this will give them a great chance to interact with other people in a new way.
With social interactions being limited these days, it’s now more important than ever for kids to get new opportunities to learn these sorts of skills.
Closing Shop
For those of you who built a treehouse with a parent as a kid, you likely already are being hit with nostalgia. For those of you who didn’t get a chance to do this type of thing with your parents, this can be a great time to give your kids something that you missed out on.
Where ever you are coming from, you now are probably thinking about all of the potential benefits of these kinds of projects. Whether you are able to build a treehouse or not, we hope you are able to find a creative project that is right for your family!
