DIY Water Wall of Wonder

Little man is finally on the upswing from his daunting adenoid surgery, stomach virus and post-op infection (yep all together!), therefore we are back outside from sun up until sundown.  HOORAY!!!  We have the typical outdoor water table with recycled plastic bottles, cups, measuring bowls, etc, but it was time to take the outdoor water play to another level; I’ll admit it, I was bored with the water table.  Since our little sailor can’t keep his fingers and toes out of anything that has even a few drops of water, I knew we needed something durable yet easily accessible for his small exploratory hands and feet.  I have seen so many of the shared Facebook posts from numerous teaching pages, mommy bloggers, etc. promoting outdoor water play pop up in my newsfeed lately, so I set off to Home Depot yesterday afternoon with no plan in place other than to purchase anything we could zip-tie to our fence that would hopefully provide endless hours of water play, investigation, and imagination!  I am not sure if I should be proud of this or not, but there is an associate at our local store who will literally walk me through EVERY step of my DIY kiddo projects offering her suggestions, improvements, etc. until I leave with a bigger and better idea; unfortunately, she was on vacation yesterday, but with no plan in place, I don’t think my project turned out too shabby.  For under $30 (don’t forget the military discount they offer!) and within 30 minutes during his naptime, I was able to construct the next best thing to golden Oreos in my son’s eyes I do believe!  (Even my husband left the remote and couch behind yesterday to get wet with us!) 

*Since we live in military housing, I couldn’t screw the water wall pieces to the fence, so I purchased extra long zip ties to secure everything in place.  Don’t have a fence to utilize?  Don’t fret; you can use a recycled wooden skid, peg board, plywood, etc.    

 

Possible items to use:  funnels, tubing, PVC pipe pieces (I spray painted mine to break up the boring white), kitchen colanders, recycled plastic containers (ketchup/mustard bottles, milk jogs, cottage cheese/yogurt containers, drinking cups, measuring cups/bowls, watering cans, etc.  Get the little ones involved- look around the house for anything that could be turned into another part of your water wall!            

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Rainy Day Water Fun!

Last week we had a day of Spring-time rain; so much better than another snowstorm!  It was too cold to play in the rain, but we still managed to get wet in our sailboat water table.  When I purchased the water table from an online yardsale group, my husband thought it would go outside this summer; little did he know, it would become a central part of our playroom.  My mom completed it with one of her surprise packages for our little guy when she sent him a waterproof smock!  (Available at http://stores.ebay.com/quickdrawsupplies/; Awesome smock, awesome price and it arrived quickly!  We will be ordering more sizes for him!)

I had an empty gallon milk jug that I cut the top off.  I filled the bottom halfway with water, added some vanilla extract and plastic shapes, and froze it during his naptime for sensory discovery when he woke up.  Seeing his love for bath time and his need to fish out ice cubes in my ice water, I hoped he would enjoy the ice block in his water table as much. 

The pictures speak for themselves.  My husband had a conference call for work that afternoon/evening, so I joined our little sailor in the playroom for the water extravaganza.  He became obsessed with trying to break apart the ice block with his water tools to get the plastic shapes out.  The added vanilla was a treat for him; it was adorable watching him smell and taste the water! 

 

Suggestion:  If you have an indoor water table, I highly suggest purchasing a washer/dryer tray from a home improvement store like Lowes or Home Depot to place it in.  Saves a lot of clean-up time and extra messes! 

 

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DIY Sensory Table

We bought our little learner a water table that he is absolutely in love with, but I wanted a sensory table for his learning area to include sand, colored pasta, oatmeal, etc. without spending an arm and a leg!  During one of my favorite Google searches I came across an easy DIY double sensory table thanks to http://blog.jaxinthebox.com/2013/05/01/diy-sand-water-table-60-minutes-50-done/. 
 
I had to alter the measurements in order to fit the bins I purchased at Home Depot.  (Thanks to the awesome store associate, she measured and cut everything for me!)  I also had extra PVC pipe leftover, so I asked the Home Depot employee to cut me 2 additional sets of legs so the table can grow with our little guy.  As an added bonus, Home Depot had many of their plastic storage items on clearance; so watch those sales tags!
 

 

 

 

Supply List: 

2- 28 quart bins (grab the lids too!)

10- 1.25 inch tees

8- 1.25 inch ninety degree elbows

4- 1.25 inch PVC pipe (10 feet each)

2 cans of spray paint

 

PVC pipe cut into the following:

5- 20 inch

2- 23 inch

4- 10 inch

My 3 sets of 4 legs are 16 inches, 20 inches & 24 inches  

 

*There will be some leftover PVC pipe.  I used it to make rain sticks.  (If you do this, purchase the caps for the ends.)

 

Ideas for your sensory table bins: 

sand, rice, colored pasta, cotton balls, oatmeal, flour, water, beans, corn meal, bubbles, shredded paper, popcorn, sponges, straw, ice cubes/blocks, tissue paper, felt pieces, a variety of material scraps, newspaper, bottle caps, pipe cleaners, shaving cream, soil, mud, fingerpaint, bird seed, the ideas are endless! 

 

*Always supervise children at the sensory table. 

 

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