Courtesy of the author
- A viral Instagram reel inspired us to reuse our old play structure.
- Turning it into an igloo was easier and faster than I expected.
- The DIY igloo we built in our backyard became the hit of the snowstorm.
Years ago, we bought a geodesic climbing structure for my three kids, who were all under 5. We thought it would keep them entertained all year long without our supervision, but the reality could not be more different. The structure sat untouched through the seasons.
On Sunday, while preparing for the massive snowstorm that was headed toward Maine, Instagram fed me a reel of a couple building an igloo with the same climbing structure we have. I sent it to my husband, who came running from the room next door and said, "We have to do this!"
It turned out to be a hit with the kids, and it was surprisingly easy to pull off.
We used sheets to make it eco-friendly
The video I watched showed the first step to making the igloo is wrapping the perimeter of the climbing structure tightly with plastic wrap.
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We opted for a more eco-friendly option and decided to use king-size bed sheets. My husband had the idea to soak them in water first so they wouldn't blow away in the strong wind as we were prepping the igloo. We soaked them in a tub and carried them outside quickly. The temps in Maine were in the teens, so we had to drag the sheets across the climbing dome quickly. I was actually surprised at how quickly the sheets hardened in the cold air. We just wrapped the ends of the sheet around a pole and didn't need anything else to secure it in place.
We covered the entire structure, leaving one small triangle so the kids could crawl in and out of it, and had the rest of the dome totally covered.
I didn't want to get my hopes up
We had tried something similar years earlier, and the sheets never hardened enough to stay on the dome. I didn't want to get my hopes up this time around, so we left the sheets and walked over to a friends' house to play before the snow.
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We were back home when the storm had already started, and we could see snow accumulating on the dome. I really wanted to check on it regularly because I was worried the weight of the snow would collapse the igloo's roof. But I'm from Argentina, and I don't do well in negative temperatures, so I let it be and decided to check it in the morning.
We woke up to tons of snow and a perfect igloo
We got absolutely dumped with snow overnight; it was the biggest snowstorm I've experienced since moving to Maine 6 years ago. And to my surprise, the igloo worked.
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Immediately, my kids were excited to climb inside, even exclaiming that it was way warmer in the igloo than outside it. They called over friends and neighbors, and they all played inside the igloo while I worked and my husband snowblowed around our house.
It's the first time that I copied something from a viral reel or TikTok video, and it really paid off. And the best part is that it costs us nothing.
Next time we get a snowstorm warning, I at least know which sheets to pull out ASAP so we can start building quickly.