Slip 'N Slide

Synopsis of Toy

On a hot summer day, there are few things as refreshing as a nice dip in a swimming pool. This treat is all the more sweet if the swimmer can enter the pool by way of a water slide. But what to do if there is no swimming pool and slide to be had? Enter Wham-O’s Slip 'N Slide, a water toy that can transform any lawn into a paradise of water-slide fun. It may not be the same thing as sliding into a pool, but it is just as much fun.

The Wham-O Company introduced Slip 'N Slide in 1961, and though different models have jazzed it up over the years, the basic Slip 'N Slide concept has remained the same. Basically, it involves rigging a water hose up to a lengthy, thin sheet of thick plastic several feet long. Once the sheet is wetted down, the water continues to run along it and transforms it into a slide. This allows the people using it launch themselves down the slide and ride down it as the water propels them along. Presto, instant waterslide...

Slip 'N Slide quickly caught on, helped in part by a nifty commercial that showed laughing, happy kids running and sliding across it. As the Slip 'N Slide moved into the 1970’s and 1980’s, it became an institution of summertime fun for kids everywhere. If you drove around any neighborhood with lawns during a hot summer day during this era, you could count on seeing at least on group of kids having fun with a Slip 'N Slide. Kids especially enjoyed the fact that once the Slip 'N Slide’s hose had been on long enough, it would slick down the lawn and allow them to slide further across the now-drenched grass. Of course, they would emerge coated in dirt and grass, but hey, that was part of the fun.

In the early 1990’s, Slip 'N Slide was removed the market for a while due to some lawsuits from adults who had been injured while using it (adults...when will they ever learn?). However, the Slip 'N Slide has recently returned to the market in a variety of designs. Some of the newer Slip 'N Slides include the Tidal Wave and the Super Geyser. These new models are inflatable, include “slide bars” to help guide riders safely down the slide, and end in small pools that safely collect the riders when they finish their slide. They also use a new design that utilizes hundreds of miniature jets to keep the Slip 'N Slide as slick as possible at all times. These new extras have helped Slip 'N Slide return to their place of prominence in the world of summer fun, and it’s very likely that it will continue to provide fun to water-loving kids for many years to come.

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1961 - Slip 'N SlideotherWham-O