It’s raining and it’s pouring… and we really miss the playground! So this morning, I surprised the kids by bringing our toddler slide in from the back patio, dried it off, and had it waiting for them after breakfast.

My original intent was to turn this into a craft, too. I taped a long sheet of butcher paper onto the slide, and set out some crayons. The idea is that kids can hold a crayon as they slide down, in one hand or both, and leave a wiggly trail behind.

It turned out that neither kid liked drawing on the descent. I tried taping together a bundle of crayons, thinking this might make it easier, but still they didn’t love the process.

Instead, Travis and Veronika invented their own version of the game: they would slid down the slide, then scribble on the paper at the bottom, then race around to go again.

I was so proud of their turn-taking!

We had surrounded the slide with pillows to avoid any mishaps when falling, which meant the game turned into tumbling around on pillows, too. What a great way to bring an outdoor playground in!