Homemade Water Table

Way back when we still had snow on the ground, I was already thinking of summer activities for the kids.  I knew that being in my third trimester during the warmest months in Juneau would mean we were gonna need some fun things to do in our own backyard.  So I wondered about buying a water table for the little missy's birthday.  But I didn't find one I liked in time, so the idea got put onto the back burner a bit--especially since  it wasn't warm enough to use one anyway.  But then I realized I could probably just make my own and have kids that were just as happy as if I'd spent $50!  So on a particularly hot day a few weeks ago, I ran across this blog post that was a visual of what had been running through my head.  So after that kick start of motivation, we made our own water table.

I started with some basic supplies from around the house.  Some bath toys, a few things from the kitchen, and a large under bed storage box.  I just took the things that had been in the box and put them into something else.  (But what I really should have done was just purged myself of the unnecessary things that were in that box.  Just another nesting project for me!)

Then I took two buckets and turned them upside down.

And then I bumped up the water table a couple of notches with some new, fun water toys that I picked up at Fred Meyer for about $12 total.  They both ended up being well worth the purchase.

Then we put it all together and filled the tub part with water.

And it worked!  Just look at those smiles!  They played and played for quite a long time.  And they didn't mess around with the water hose, which they think is standard backyard protocol and drives me nuts!

And when they're done or the weather turns cool for a while, everything can be easily cleaned up and put back, rather than having yet another clunlky kid toy to store in your shed or garage.

So if your kids need something to do outside on a hot day, you can try to make your own water table.  My kids definitely enjoyed it.  I'm sure we'll do this several more times this summer.