We love summer time! Have I mentioned that before? Not just because the sun is shining and we get to play outside (although that’s pretty awesome!) We love it because we get to stay home all summer and play! I love it!
So on one of our camping trips this summer we stumbled upon a group of high school kids who were laughing and whooping it up on a homemade slip ‘n slide. My kids and I all looked at each other and said “we have to do that” right about at the same time. So we came home and bought the “ingredients”. Pretty simple right? A tarp and some dish soap.
Sure we could just go buy a slip ‘n slide from the store. But they cost about $15 or $20 and we end up tearing it after about 3 uses and have to throw it away. This was much cheaper. The tarp was $7 and I bought the dish soap at the Dollar Store.
The kids all got wet (which became a big water fight).
I love this picture of my daughter. She is amazingly brave and had no problem being the first one to try it out.
We were a tad bit soapy.
But no one seemed to mind. It was hysterical watching them slip and slide and laugh their heads off. My poor neighbors. I’m not sure what they think after this and my homemade sprinkler.
We even took this bad boy camping with us last time. It was HOT over in Vernonia and the kids needed to cool down. The tarp was easy to pack and I had dish soap with us. I just filled up buckets from the water thing (see how versed I am with camping jargon) and carried them to the tarp. Easy as can be and hours of fun!
One of our friends showed my kids how to blow huge bubbles with just her hands. (See, being all covered in soap isn’t all bad.)
I link up to the parties on my sidebar.
Looks like great fun, Erin. After play time on the slide they are clean as a whistle. Very clever.
The best slip and slide we had was a HUGE piece of clear plastic. It made for a super long slip and slide and we had it going down a slight hill. The homemade versions are always SOOOOO much better!
How fun!!
I’m in Oregon too 😉
Looks like lots of fun. I will have to remember this one for next year!
What a super fun idea! They look like they had a ball. My kids would love this. Many times I have bought Slip N Slides, and like you said, after a few uses, they are torn and need to be trashed. I love that this is durable and portable too:)
Oh this brings back such fun memories of my childhood. Only we used a very large and long piece of black plastic. You just have to be careful that you don’t leave it out for more than a day or you’ll find yellow grass underneath! We also used to put dish soap on the trampoline with a sprinkler underneath…….
As I think I mentioned when I commented on your handmade sprinkler post – those days are gone here in Australia. Enjoy!
We do that too (we are also in Oregon!) but I always use baby shampoo instead of dish soap in case in gets in the eyes 🙂
What a fabulous idea!! I bought one of the slip n slides one year and it literally only lasted five minutes. Thanks for great family fun!!
What a fun time and I bet that tarp is a lot more sturdy than the ones sold at the store. I love it! I just was taught by my clever six year old neighbor about the hand blown bubbles. Those are so neat, can’t believe I made it to 33 years old without knowing about that!
That is great fun! We actually did this at a park and bought a BIG tarp from Home Depot and put baby oil on it with water and you could slide till the cows came home. I love making memories with my kids too!
this is WAY cooler than our rinky dink slip n slide! It’s always too short of a run for our kids too – this is a great alternative! Gotta try it!! Thanks for sharing!
We actually did this last summer for my nephew’s birthday. Ours wasn’t slippery enough so we actually rubbed some canola oil on the kids to make them a little more slippery. The kids loved it and we had a blast laughing about it. : ) Fun times!
Also, our new link up has just been posted! : )
We have the perfect just slightly-sloped backyard for this! (And you’re right, the store bought ones just don’t last.) Looks like I’ll be picking up a tarp soon.
Thanks so much for linking up to my Summer Fun party.
Laura @ Come Together Kids