Play Stucture Talking Tube

If you have been to a modern playground in the last ten years you may have seen the tube that comes up out of the ground with a megaphone shape at the end. There is usually a matching tube someplace on the playground. The idea is that you are supposed to talk through the tube to your friends who can talk back. They work great until somone hopelessly clogs them with woodchips from the playground. They look something like this.



Well this is the same idea.
I actually got the idea while reading a Family Fun magazine at the dentist office. They used very large tubes called drain tile. I opted for the smaller version to fit our structure. We used 1 1/4" sump pump tube. It was around $8 for 24' at a hardware store. We used 12 feet for our project. Here is the other 12 feet still in the package so you know what you are looking for.



Then I took it and spiraled it down one of the supports of the structure and secured it with plastic cable ties.
The kids LOVED it, even my youngest who at 14 months was a pro at yelling in the tube and giggled when he heard his sister's voice sound back from the tube back.


My 14 month old son yelling in the tube.



Look how he is trying to figure out where his sister is.



He checks to see if she is in the tube since that is where her voice is coming from.


My older two also had fun sending a bouncy ball down the spiral to eachother over and over again. This simple tube provided much entertainment and I am sure it will continue to do so.


Of course talking is much more fun than listening. This helps them figure out that it doesn't always work to talk at the same time.