Waterwall

My little buddy is definitely a water baby.
I thought I might as well encourage some good old scientific inquiry-I mean fun playing in the water.

Water walls are a frame that holds a variety of containers and tubes that can be rearranged to explore how water moves-and is a great way to cool off on a hot day. It always seems to be the simple things that provide the most fun!



To make your own waterwall, first construct a frame. I took two 1 1/2" x 3/4" boards, and cut them so the short length would be as wide as a roll of plastic hardware cloth I had. I put two screws in each corner to keep it square and spray-painted it.
You can skip building a frame and use some pegboard, hang everything on a chain-link fence, or just duct tape everything to a wall. I found one person that used suction cups with hooks on her shower wall.

For the inside of the frame I stapled some plastic hardware cloth to the frame.
It turned out the roll wasn't quite as wide as advertized on the package so I had to run three strips across the frame instead of running it the length of the frame. I figured that when the cloth wore out I could easily replace it with something more durable.

Next you need some containers and something to fasten them to the frame with. I'd saved some plastic containers, and really lucked out at the dollar store where I found some accordion tubes that hook together and hold their shape when bent. (Pop-toobs can be bought here). I cut the containers up, taped the tubes to the bottles and poked holes in various places to create drips. I also found a few tubs at the dollar store to catch (most) of the water. I looked at a lot of options for attaching the containers and tubes to the frame, from wire to Velcro, and finally decided to use pipe cleaners. They added color, were kid friendly, and are easily removable so I can re-arrange things when this configuration gets old.

My one year old loved it, so mission accomplished.
I think next time I'll tweak a few things: I didn't think to raise one of the short lengths of board to make a gap for the tubs to go directly under all the dripping. I also think I'll use chicken wire or some metal hardware cloth when I need to replace this though.




(Safety note: Be sure to secure the frame so it can't tip over on kids, and don't leave kids unattended-I'm sure you are aware toddlers can drown in a few inches of water in a tub like these. You might want to tape over some of the cut plastic edges if they turn out a little sharp.)

Here are a few blogs that inspired this waterwall:
Share and Remember Blog
Let The Children Play
Pre-School Play