I grew up with two older brothers and one younger one and this means that as many boys tend to when they are growing up, they were very interested in being creative and adventurous. All of my brothers were very hands on in their creativity, building many sling shots, bows and arrows and swords. And another thing they did throughout the years was build cubby houses.
We had a number of cubby houses over the years, varying in size and quality. I don’t specifically remember which one we made first, but one was a bunch of wooden planks that we used to build a little cubby house next to our fence. (When I say ‘we’, it was mostly my brothers who built it with me tagging along and ‘helping’ as best I could) When we were finished, the cubby fit all three of us, although just barely.
The second cubby house that I remember we built was on our monkey bar frame. The frame was a dome shape with four ladders going up to the top and bars connecting them at different heights. It was a lot of fun for a little kid and we found this a great frame to build on. We used the ladders to lay planks across and then built walls and a roof all out of wood.
The third and final one that I remember us building was the most solid cubby house and the most planned out. We dug out holes for poles in the ground and then built the cubby house off the ground, complete with two rooms and a hallway connecting them, and a trapdoor in the bottom to get in.
One of my fondest memories that I have from all of these cubbies was that every time we built one we would then try and sleep in it overnight. We would pull out our sleeping bags and eagerly head outside ready to take on the world. I’m pretty sure it took me until the third cubby house to successfully last the night. The first few times I would end up back in my bed before the night was through. I was very proud of myself when I finally made it until the next morning.
It was sad when we moved away from the house and had to leave the cubby house behind. But I still have the fond memories of ‘building’ the cubbies with my brothers and the different adventures that were had in them.
The Barefoot Adventurer 