You probably didn’t know this even existed, but now that you do, you know you want one.
Slinkies have been a favorite toy for kids since the 1940s when Richard James invented them. The original slinky is made of spring steel and measures roughly 2.75″ in diameter. It is a fun example of kinetics for children and can offer hours of amusement. One of the things they do best is to “walk” down inclines or steps, provided the height and width of each “step” is within certain limits relative to the diameter of the slinky being used. This is where it gets tricky. In order to walk a slinky all the way down a staircase, the diameter of the slinky needs to be more than half the depth of the stair tread.
Enter the GIANT Slinky.
The giant rainbow slinky measures a whopping 7″ in diameter and loves to walk down stairs. My 6 year old grandson Ryan has always been fascinated by the two slinkies the I keep on a ledge in my office. One day we were discussing things they could do and I told him about getting them to walk down stairs. I even bought him and is brother a pair of the original metal slinkies so they could try this at home.
Then I remembered a video I had seen of someone letting one loose on an escalator and looked it up. That’s when I saw for the fist time, the GIANT slinky. HAD to have one. We tried it on the escalator at a virtually abandoned mall in Dallas, but found the treads too deep for it to successfully traverse them. BUT – the adjacent staircases were perfect. Watch the video below and click on the ad to get your own giant slinky.