Our goal with building a water park was to stuff as many water features as possible into our backyard. We brain stormed and took inventory of items we had and over a week put together a water paradise.
The Falls
We had a left over piece of pvc pipe from our HVAC exhaust. We plugged one end (with a spray paint can lid) and connected the hose to the other end. We drilled lots of tiny holes in the pipe and mounted it to the top of our wood swing.
Leaky Labs
This was the most challenging feature. We had a tough time keeping the noodles connected. and since we were on a budget we had to get creative. the ends of the noodles have all been plugged with golf balls and then tied off with a rope. The noodles are connected to each other with glue and duct tape. The rug helped keep the area from becoming a mud pit. We had to keep the water pressure low and we added a few larger holes/corks so that they would pop before any structural damage occurred. (we had a golf ball shout out and a pool noodle split during the testing phase – which is why we installed corks)
The Tipping Bucket
This was our first water park invention. We drilled a couple holes in a bucket and stuck a broom handle through. We attached some weight to the bottom of the bucket and it worked. To make sure it was high enough, we jammed some 2by2’s into the basketball rim and attached the broom handle by drilling some holes in the wood. We ran the hose up above the rim and held it in place with some gardening wire. the hose has a tee at the top to allow a second stream of water to spray over the water park. The broken umbrella was a way to spread the wave of water out over a bigger area. We eventually added some foam floor pieces to keep the ground from becoming a swamp.
Water Balloon Zones
We had 2 water balloon zones. We had a scooby doo van plywood cutout (we made last halloween) and and “hideout” made out of some leftover siding. Each zone had a large bucket filled with water balloons. Each zone also had one large balloon filled with water. The team that captured the other’s giant balloon would win this mini game!
Extras
We made sure we used up all the hoses we could find. We had purchased lots of cheap valves,so we tried to make sure the entire back yard had water spraying.
The inflatable animals and trees helped set the mood, as did the flags overhead. We used some plastic ribbon to rope off the area to ensure the kids didn’t trip over the hoses lying around the outside.
Squirt Guns were a big hit as well. We had many laying around the yard, all filled and ready to shoot. We also made some targets by cutting pool noodles into target practise stacking cylinders.
