Ok I’m going to start with the health warning. This cardboard box tunnel slide is seriously FUN!
No, I mean it needs a bit of parental supervision. But you’re not the kind of parents to let your kids slide down stairs unattended are you? No? Great.
Anyway we have been having a bit of a declutter and so had to buy some large cardboard boxes to put away some of the things we aren’t using. The girls had a lovely time making dens in them. I had a cardboard slide pinned on Pinterest for a while and it seemed the ideal time to try it out. The girls wanted a tunnel though so we had to keep the boxes up rather than flatten them.
We have just finished reading The Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton and Molly loved the idea of a slippery slip and has been asking if we can have one in our house ever since. In the book the magical characters all live in a giant tree which has a helter skelter built into it. It’s the part I remember most from reading the book as well so I could understand why it caught Molly’s imagination.
Our slide is made with 4 large cardboard boxes and one small one. I think this would work just as well with just one box – it would be a smaller slide but just as much fun. I put a small one of the end so that it would sit flat onto the floor. It makes a sort of L shape at the bottom which means the girls slide down the last section rather than just bumping on the floor. It gives a much smoother landing especailly when you put cushions at the bottom. All the boxes are slotted together and taped with a lot of duct tape so they don’t come apart. The main safety problem I found was on the sides of the boxes catching on them as they go down so I made sure there was tape over every section so it was smooth and they didn’t have any scraped legs.
When the boxes were all in place it’s finally time to whizz down it. The girls had lots of fun. There was a gap on one side so they could climb back up. I made sure I checked it was safe every time they went down and they had to wait until the landing area was clear before they could start. Just like in the faraway tree they slid down on cushions. As the slide is cardboard it won’t last a very long time. The girls each had several turns before it started to sag. The twins loved it and kept giggling and saying “it’s a bit fun”. I think we will try a flat slide next or maybe make this amazing small world cardboard box Faraway Tree. Although that reminds me I really should go and buy some more cardboard boxes so I can get on with the decluttering!
If you love making things out of cardboard then make sure you check out my epic series of posts on cardboard creations for every letter of the alphabet.
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