Today’s DIY Fun is not for the weak. Or very young. Or for the person who left a comment on this blog post who seemed appalled that I would let my kids play with a giant ice cube without outfitting them with safety goggles. That’s not how we roll around here.
Earlier this week, I decided to give the old staircase a makeover. We have been stuck indoors for a bit longer than we’d all like, and the boys were itching to blow off some steam. Which translates to: do something quickly before they actually tear the walls down.
Materials Needed
- extra large box
- scissors
- packaging tape
- copious pillows
I apologize for the poor quality of these photos- Milo accidentally flipped the switch to manual focus on the camera and I was too distracted to look at the pictures until after the whole thing was over– but you get the idea!
First, I cut the extra large box, then folded under all the flaps to create a long slide. I taped the flaps together (underneath the slide) to make it double-thick. Next, I taped the top part of the slide flush to the stairs, and pushed pillows and blankets underneath every open space so that the cardboard would not buckle when the boys slid down (if you don’t do this, they will hit the edge of each step which makes for a bumpy ride). At the bottom, I padded the landing with a toddler mattress and several more pillows and blankets.
I had Milo test it by going only halfway up, then sliding down a few times before letting Oliver try. It was super fast, but certainly safer than sliding down the stairs in a cardboard box like my brother and I used to do!
Yep, you’d better believe I tried it out (Milo took the two above pictures!).
The landing
The boys (minus Emil) played on this all afternoon, then asked me to set it up again the next morning. Great fun! They also had a blast racing matchbox cars down the ramp over and over again.
Did you ever do anything like this as a kid? Both Andrew and I had fun recounting memories of similar activities when we were little. And if you have carpeted stairs, this would be even better!
