Obligatory element of any personal plot, if you have children, is a playground. It can be installed any number of different types of structures: sandbox, swimming pool, swing – the choice depends on your desire and financial capabilities. Most of the items for the playground can be made independently. For example, a children’s slide with its own hands is constructed quite simply, for many years serving as a source of children’s joy.
Requirements for a children’s slide
Children’s slide can be installed both indoors and outdoors. It should be understood that the slide for the child (for the house it is built or for the street in this case does not matter) must meet certain requirements:
- for construction you need to use only environmentally friendly and safe for the child’s health materials. It does not matter if you are building a slide made of wood, metal or plastic, the material should not contain harmful elements. The same applies to paints, which you will open the structure. Another important point for both children’s plastic slides for the house, and for the wooden structure – is resistance to fire;
- Be sure to use structural elements such as railings and fences. They will not only help the child to keep his balance while climbing a hill, but also save him from falling during games. Railing on the hill for a child in the country you need to install, regardless of the age of your child;
- It is best to use wood for construction. Children’s wooden slides for the house are more pleasant during operation due to the natural origin of the material. In outdoor conditions, wooden slides do not heat up as quickly as metal ones, so they can be installed in any place convenient for you, and not just on the shaded part of the site. About hot metal, a child can easily get burned, but the tree does not heat up to a dangerous temperature;
- plastic outdoor children’s slide is lighter than wood or metal. It can be easily moved from place to place, if necessary, transported, but the material itself is less durable – it can easily crack;
- the slide should be located away from trees, lanterns, outbuildings and other structures. This is done to ensure that the child does not hurt when going down the hill. The surface around the hill can be sown with lawn grass or use a special rubber coating. Remember that the main thing is the health of the child, so any street slide for giving should be, first of all, safe;
- the base should be strengthened with a metal support or concreted. Do not rely on the fact that the child still does not move the structure from the place – even the most durable slide can tip over as a result of children’s games;
- An important point is the height of the constructed children’s slide for giving with your own hands. It should correspond to the age of the child, for example, the height of the slide intended for children of primary school age should not exceed 3.5 m.
Helpful advice! The slides and openings must be absent in the slides, otherwise the child may get stuck or seriously injured during the game.
How to make a hill in the country with their own hands without much difficulty? If we are talking about wooden construction, you will need several wooden boards, planed boards, slats, wall paneling and fiberboard. It is possible to connect elements among themselves with the help of nails, anchor bolts and screws.
The list of tools required for construction is very simple:
- wood saw manual or electric;
- hammer;
- hand or electric drill;
- plane;
- roulette and level;
- drill.
By the way, it is not necessary to use a wooden ramp – there may be cracks or chips splintering it, which can injure a child. You can buy plastic ramps for a slide and install them on a wooden structure.
In the case of the metal construction, everything is a little more complicated. Here you will need a welding machine and grinder for metal. All seams and joints in wood and metal construction should be carefully sanded so that the child does not accidentally get hurt while playing. Metal slopes for a children’s slide should be painted with a special paint that will absorb the sun’s rays and prevent the metal from heating up to a high temperature.
If you decide to create a slide for the child on your own, you should follow a certain sequence of actions:
- first of all you need to prepare a plan design of the structure. You can take a ready-made layout from the Internet or draw your own. Ready-made drawings of a children’s slide made of wood with their own hands are good because they show the exact proportions of the elements and the dimensions of the individual parts;
- referring to the scheme, it is necessary to cut boards, slats and bars. In addition, they must be sanded in order to prevent splinters from falling under the skin of the child. With the help of a plane, the bevelled edges of the corners of the parts are removed, which will further increase the safety of the structure;
- markup is performed on a dedicated area. It is worth allocating a site with a reserve if you are going to build a children’s sports complex for a summer residence together with a slide. The optimal size for the construction without additional extensions – 2 to 2 m;
- recesses of about 60 cm are dug under supports. Wooden bars are inserted into them, the ends of which should be covered with special waterproofing mastic. This is done in order to extend the life of the supports. Grooves are cut into the racks into which the connecting wooden boards are inserted. The elements of the resulting frame are interconnected with bolts or screws;
- further mounted floor. When building a roller coaster for children, remember: it is important that the floor be as durable as possible, therefore thick boards are made for it, which are connected to each other with screws and screwed to the frame with metal corners. If you do not want water to accumulate on the floor of the slide, small gaps should be left between the boards, but not enough for the child to put a finger in them;
- the slope is made for children’s slides. Its width should not exceed 80 cm. The surface of the slope is covered with linoleum, galvanized sheet or plastic. Linoleum is the cheapest option, but easily deformed and detached. The metallic coating significantly heats up in the sun and can also bend. The most reliable option – plastic slopes for children’s slides. Plastic does not overheat, does not rust and does not bend, but costs more than a linoleum or metal flooring;
- mounted ladder. The optimal size of the boards for its manufacture is 20 mm. After mounting the main part of the installed side. To do this, sawn at an angle of 45 ° board with screws attached to the racks. Then the bars are screwed to the board, on which the steps are mounted. Photos of children’s slides with their own hands from wood on the Internet clearly show how exactly the elements of the stairs should be fixed. After mounting the steps, balusters are mounted on which the rails are mounted;
Helpful advice! Railing must be done in any case, regardless of the height of the hill or the angle of the stairs. They serve not only for safety, but also to make it easier for the child to keep a balance when lifting.
- in the side of the racks are cut grooves in which the side walls are made of plywood or fiberboard. The walls can also be made of small boards or have any original look;
- all protruding corners, heads of nails and screws are removed, all surfaces are thoroughly polished and covered with paint or special protective varnish.
An interesting modification of the structure can be a slide – a sandbox for children. In this case, the sandbox is organized either at the base of the slide, or you can build a tank with sand at the end of the descent.
If you doubt from what material to build a house with a slide for children or another similar structure on the plot, you should familiarize yourself with the features of the buildings of the two most popular materials – wood and metal.
Wooden structures for playgrounds have proven themselves a few centuries ago. All children’s slides are made of wood with their own hands according to the classic layout, which includes a ladder and a ramp, a base, an upper platform and a protective part. In addition, additional elements are often added to the standard design, for example, an internal labyrinth, a sandbox, additional descents and much more. Since it is possible to make such a construction quite simply, everything depends exclusively on your imagination.
One of the significant advantages of creating a wooden slide for children in the country with their own hands is low cost manufacturing. The material itself is relatively inexpensive; specialized tools are also not needed to process it. In addition, the construction of a structure made of planks and timber does not require any special building skills from you – sometimes it is enough just to strictly adhere to the scheme found on the Internet.
