A treehouse is a small structure built among the branches of a tree, usually as a playspace or hideout. Some treehouses are simple platforms with a few boards nailed between sturdy branches, while others are elaborate constructions with walls, roofs, windows, and even rope ladders or swinging bridges.

Building a treehouse requires finding a strong tree (oaks and maples work well), choosing branches thick enough to support weight, and carefully securing the structure without harming the tree. The best treehouses feel like secret worlds suspended in the air, places where you can read, play games, or just watch the world from above while hidden among the leaves.

Treehouses have captured imaginations throughout history. The Swiss Family Robinson built an enormous treehouse home after being shipwrecked. Some hotels now offer luxury treehouses for guests who want to sleep high in the forest canopy. But most treehouses are simpler: backyard retreats where kids can claim their own space, away from parents and siblings, connected to the ground only by a ladder or knotted rope.

The word can also describe any structure built high up in trees, like the platforms scientists use to study rainforest animals, or the hunting blinds that hunters build to watch for deer.