Keeping the kids entertained and active all summer can be a daunting task. Summer heat can put outdoor activities on hold and have kids parked in front of screens all afternoon. To beat the heat, we came up with a solution, a DIY Slip and Slide.
Not just any slip and slide, but a mega huge 100 foot slip and slide the runs the length of our hillside. This DIY slip and slide is totally an easy and inexpensive project that you can tackle and have the kids skidding all over the yard in no time.
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Simple Materials
The only materials you will need to put together your DIY slip and slide are landscaping stakes and a roll of plastic sheeting.
We used a 6 mil plastic sheeting that is 10ft x 100ft. To keep things interesting, we tried out three different kinds of stakes. The green landscaping fabric stakes were the cheapest, but slightly difficult to hammer into hard ground.
The metal landscaping staples were easy to pound in, but seem like they could be a bit more dangerous if for some reason, they popped out of the ground. Heavy duty and easy to use, the black stakes ended up being the most expensive, but our favorite. However, any of these three options will work.
Find A Spot For Sliding
With a semi steep hillside in our front yard, finding a location for the slip and slide was a no-brainer. If you don’t have a hill on your property, no biggy! Flat surface slip and slides can be just as fun. In fact, our kids loved a flat slip and slide for years that we made using this same method.
Do not purchase a 100 foot piece of plastic if you are making a flat DIY slip and slide. 25 feet of plastic should be enough, and will save you some buckeroos.
Prepping the Slope
To prep our slope for the DIY slip and slide, we mowed the grass. Don’t skip this step. The flat surface helps to keeps water on the plastic.
We started to go a bit DIY crazy, and decided to dig out a path to lay the plastic over. This is totally optional. We piled the dirt up along the sides to keep water and kids on the slip and slide.
In hindsight, it may be more booty friendly to leave the grass. We will never know. Underestimating how much time we would be digging cost us the majority of a Saturday.
You could either leave some long grass along the edge of your slide, or put dollar store pool noodles underneath the plastic. Either way, eventually use will carve a bit of a trail in your slip and slide.
Slow Them Sliders Down
To keep our beautiful kiddos from shooting off the end of the slip and slide to their death, we created a pool. With a steep slope this was necessary. For flat or slight slopes, you can skip this step.
Digging out this V shaped hole, allowed water to gather, stopping sliders and keeping things safer.
Staking the Slide
Keep the plastic from shifting or blowing away in the wind by staking it to the ground. For extra strength, fold over the edge of the plastic and drive the stake through both layers.
Every few feet, stake the slip and slide. I don’t really think you could have too many stakes. Be sure to leave some slack in the plastic. Too much tugging on stakes will cause the plastic to rip, or the stakes to pull out. We just don’t want that kind of danger do we!
Upgrade the Slippery
Don’t forget to add some soap to amp up your slip-ability. We found that concentrated soap is the slip and sliders best friend. Any soap will work, but you will blaze through the un-concentrated stuff too fast.
Finally Time to Play
After many painful hours of hovering around the work site, our kiddos finally got to try out the masterpiece. A couple adjustments were needed for bumpiness. The overall review was pretty good
There were a few of these moments, but the DIY slip and slide ended up being more safe than we thought.
So far the slower downer pool has worked. The pool would need to be twice and big for adult sized riders. My husband and I can attest to that, but we are alive and mostly well.
So channel you adventurous side and get started on your DIY slip and slide.
Enjoy!