Ever get cooped up at home with the kids – they’re bored, and you’re out of ideas? Why not become the coolest parent alive – and build a cardboard slide on your stairs!? I’m serious!
A cardboard Stair Slide is super fun, uses up your extra cardboard – and your kids will never expect it!
What you NEED to Build a Cardboard Slide:
- Large pieces of Cardboard – TV, refrigerator, and other appliance boxes work the best.
- Duct Tape- You will need to secure cardboard together and to the sides of the wall. If your worried about the tape peeling your paint, use painters tape!
- Pillows, blankets and mattresses – you will need a soft and safe place to land!
- A bike helmet – safety first y’all 😉
5 Ways to make your Cardboard Slide extra AWESOME:
- You can use layers of cardboard under each other to support larger sliders, and make the slide a smoother ride.
- Don’t be afraid of the duct tape. Be sure to use it liberally when connecting pieces together, and to attach one side of the cardboard to the stair wall.
- If you have a very long set of stairs, do not be tempted to make your slide too long. Riders pick up speed fast!
- If you have several large boxes you can just tape the bottoms together to form a tube. Now your slide has a roof!
- Back in the day – the wisdom was to tape the cardboard to only one side of the stairway, and make the slide narrow enough that you could walk up the other side of the stairs where the cardboard didn’t cover to ride again. You can do that – but I think I’ve found a better solution! See bonus tip below!
*Bonus Tip* To make your cardboard slide the whole width of the stairs -tape the cardboard slide to the left side of the stairway wall, but don’t tape the right side to the wall. Then when you want to climb the stairs to ride again – you just lift your slide up, and it opens like a door to allow you back up the stairs!
Building a cardboard slide on the stairs is truly retro fun! You may have done it as a kid, but its probably all new to your own children! let them experience both the building and the riding of the slide!
…And if you were one of the unfortunate kiddo’s who didn’t have a cardboard slide in your childhood – it’s never too late! Take a ride yourself!
*Please remember to only build slides where there can be a safe, soft landing. Wear protective gear if possible, and always supervise children while they use the slide!
About Shannon SchmidShannon traded in her sensible NYC TV producer shoes (they were best for taking the subway), for a pair of Texas Cowboy boots when she married her best friend! He's at fault for making this Yankee a Texan! Shannon writes about all things that make a house a home. Her chief blogging inspiration is being the proud & slightly neurotic mom of a preschool age daughter.
You can find Shannon on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and her new favorite place to hang out, Google+.
Oh, I have been wanting to do this! We have tons of large boxes in the basement… With the frigid temps, I think this is the week!! (And, yes, this momma will be trying it!)
That’s genius! I would totally go down a stairs slide if we had some stairs.
That’s such an awesome idea! I think I would have just as much fun as the kids. 😉
My stairs have a door right in front of them… that could ouch…lol
oh, I wish we had a staircase in this house!! looks so fun.
Why the HECK didn’t I ever think of that with the one side not attached for easy up the stairs movement. This is serious snow day fun!
Every stair case should come with a slide as standard. That would be so much fun!
How fun! The way my stairway is made we couldn’t do this, but we make huge club houses out of cardboard boxes in our family room. 🙂
I wish I had stairs to use this idea!!!!
OMG. We’re on snow day #4 so this would have been great! I don’t like it when they slide down the stairs because they tear up the carpet but the cardboard is a great solution. You’re right… mine would never expect it!
Ok, This looks like so much fun! I can’t wait to try this.
Honestly our stairs are SO steep that we would probably have a death. 🙂
Just make the slide on the last few steps…like it’s shown here!
This is awesome and so much fun! I agree with Trish, our steps are also very steep. You have good steps for this.
That looks like some serious fun!
What a fun Mom you are! My boys would flip for this!
That is very cool, although we don’t have stairs…bugger.
How fun, I bet the kids had a blast with this! I will definitely have to try this out on our stairs with the kids. Thanks for sharing
Sheena @ http://thekeeperofcheerios.blogspot.com/
This. Is. Awesome! My girls would have a blast with this. We have so much extra cardboard we’ve been trying to get rid of for months. I’m definitely going to pull some out and give it a try.
Renae
hillmade.blogspot.com
Oh.my.goodness. We have a ton of stairs that this would be PERFECT for. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks for linking up with us at Tell Me About It Tuesday! I hope you hop over again next week. http://www.sweetsillysara.com/2014/02/welcome-to-tell-me-about-it-tuesday-and.html
My kids will be so sad we don’t have stairs 🙂
This is great! Definitely going to do…thanks!
I LOVE THIS! My son and I will definitely be doing this on our next snow day!
Thanks so much for sharing on Turn It Up Tuesday! We love having you! 🙂
Thanks for linking up to Tip Me Tuesday linky party this week. {knuckle bumps}
Did you know that I can “lend” your blog posts my Google page rank for better search engine traffic? {fabulous}
If you upload at least 2 images, 2 steps, and blog post URL into your Tip Junkie craft room, you’ll be in business!
{wink} ~ Laurie {a.k.a. the Tip Junkie} http://www.tipjunkie.com/post/how-to-add-a-craft-room-project-on-tip-junkie/ –
Oh, what fun!! Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!
I really want to try this with me toddler. Will the tape peel off the paint on the wall?
@Jenny</a
Sure will
@Jenny, Great question Jenny. If you use a low level sticking tape, then its not likely. But if your concerned – just use wide painters tape! Its meant to pull off without hurting paint underneath!
Can this be done *without* duct taping my wall?? I’m game to just try it without that tape but I thought I’d ask. Or see if anyone had an alternative plan.
@Heather, You could one of two things – you could tape to the rug on your stairs if you have one. Or just users painters tape! It peels off surfaces without damaging whats under them. You can find it at Home depot or really and store with painting supplies:)
Clever Idea!! We are getting ready to move (lots of boxes) and our new house have split stairs!! This will be perfect fun way to break in the new house!! And since the stairs are split with a landing in the middle the slide will be the perfect length too! Wow Im really excited to find this idea!Thanks for sharing.
If you happen to have a couple of large appliance boxes, you can just open the tops and bottoms of the boxes and tape and lay the boxes end to end down the stairs like my church did. This turns the boxes into a really fun tube slide! Give it a try!