Summer project #2...
Water Table
And not just any old water table. One with custom parts and moving water. Kids love water, especially running water. My kids play with this non stop. They collect water in containers and water flowers, play with little dolls in the water, and change the pipe fittings.
I got my inspirations from a Pinterest pin which had excellent instructions and pictures. Click here to see it. But I wanted to take it one step further. I didn't just want water to squirt through the pipes and drain to the bottom, I also wanted the water to pool on the top before draining to the bottom. The challenge with this was finding 2 containers that fit together.
I found these 2 storage containers at Lowes. The top one fit perfectly into the bottom while allowing a large pool of water in the bottom for the pond pump. Time to start the plumbing...
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I had to drill 4 holes in the shallow bin for the plumbing to come through to the top. Don't worry about making the holes slightly too big because you will want a way for the water to slowly drip back to the bottom bin. Now I was able to attach the top pipes and figure out how I wanted the water to spray out. I made a variety of attachments and drilled holes into the pipes for the water. I have about 8 configurations so that my kids can change things once in a while.
I hope that this serves as an inspiration for your own creation. The final outcome will depend on how you want it to work and the type of plumbing parts you have access to. I spent a lot of time in the plumbing isle trying to figure out which pipes and fittings would work. But it was worth it.
One final thing to note: this will be heavy to move around once it is filled with water. I ended up building a box with casters to set the water table on. Then I was able to wheel it into the garage and it was at a better height for my 4 year old.
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