A slip n slide is a great idea for the backyard on those hot summer days.

Clear the ground, lay the plastic out and you’re good to go for hours of entertainment for the whole family.

What you need:

• Heavy duty plastic
• Rake
• Hose
• Non-toxic dish detergent

Setting up the slip n slide

• Purchase a length of heavy duty polythene, approximately 1.2m wide and about 4m long (you can cut it to size to suit your backyard space).
• Find a large enough area to accommodate the length of the slide, plus some running room and offshoot.
• Rake the area of any debris including stones, twigs and lumps.
• Roll the plastic out and spray the entire surface with water.
• Add a few drops of non-toxic washing up liquid or liquid soap to make it super slippery.
• Children then run towards the slippery slide and dive on it to see how far they can slide. If the kids are a bit wary of bumps and bruises, the use of an inflatable pool ride-on can give them some confidence.
• You may need to top up the water and soap every now and again to keep the surface slippery.
• Don’t forget to slap on the sunscreen about 20 minutes before the kids head out to the slide!
• Be considerate of water use during local water restrictions.
• Roll the slide up and put it away when you’re finished so you don’t kill the grass underneath.