I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and their client.
I’ve been wanting to make a water wall outside for months now, and this shop has finally inspired me to make one. The first thing I did was check out Pinterest for some inspiration, I was blown away by the amazing systems people had built, and slightly concerned that it might be harder than I thought to get the wall to work.
I knew I’d need a trellis or sheet of wood, some tubing and cables ties to headed off to B and Q when the children were all occupied elsewhere. I was quite surprised B and Q was so busy at 10.3am on a weekday, the actual shop was quiet but the queues were quite long at the tills. However, I managed to find everything quite easily, so the whole shopping experience was pleasant enough. Getting the trellis into the back of the car was the biggest test.
Unfortunately I forgot tubing so had to pop back to B and Q on the weekend. I asked my husband to go and get tubing while I formulated a construction plan. He came back with not only tubing, but an ironing board and a washing line as well!
Once I had a plan, the water wall wasn’t too hard to put together. My husband came up with the genius idea of having a colour mixing section at the top and a ‘decision maker ‘ lower down, so the water could take one of two routes.
We drilled a hole in the milk carton, pushed the tubing through the hole, then used a cable tie to fix it in place.
This is the colour changing area ready to go.
The way the ‘decision maker’ works is that the top part can tilt in either direction depending on which way the water falls. If it falls to the left it collects in the container and if it falls to the right drops onto the child sitting underneath.
It worked quite well, the colour mixing was perfect.
Next time we play with it, I’d like to have more features the children can move around, this one is a also a little tall for them to access easily so we might have to fix the trellis more securely and drop everything down. They did love watching the construction and sitting under it though.
What do you think? What features would you have added to your water wall?
For more photos, see the associated Google + album.
I’ve been thinking of making kne of these….
You should, it was great!
What a great idea! Bet everyone loved that! 🙂
They really did!
WOW, I love this idea thank you so much xxx
Thank you. x
This looks like so much fun! I want to play too!
It was great Mary 🙂
That looks so much fun! I want to make one now!
It was great 🙂
Ooo I have never seen one of these before but it looks really fun! Good DIY skills lady!
Thanks Annie!
That is awesome! Never seen anything like it but looks fab 🙂 x
Thanks lovely. x
What a fab idea! I wonder what your neighbours think from their side of the fence though!!
Yes, I did wonder about that. We dropped the height though. x
You are so inventive. Love it!
Thank you. x
I love this so much! I’ve been wanting to do it for ages and I know Bonus Boy would love it, you’ve inspired me, it’s on the list! x
Awww, thank you. x
Love it, I made one for outdoor playgoup I ran a couple of years ago. Biggest issue was definitely kids being able to reach the top. Could have different level access points and a stable upturned box to stand on. Maybe a pinwheel somewhere that turns as the water passes through. Love the colour mixing.
Wow how cool is that – I’ve not even see one of these pinned before – fantastic.
Awww, thank you. x
So clever, I really should get off my bum and do more of these things. They look so much fun and Amy would really enjoy them x
Awwww….H just likes pouring water through funnels and things. x
OK – so I’m not sure what rock I’ve been living under recently, but how have I NEVER seen a water wall before. I’m off to write the husband a shopping list and see if we can make one here for the kids. Genius!
Thanks for sharing.
Ha ha, make sure you send me a photo when it’s done 🙂
This is such a lovely idea! I would never even think to do something so creative so I’m very impressed 🙂
Thanks Jo.
This looks like so much fun! Pinning it to my “fun stuff to do with the toddler” board. You’ve pinspired me 🙂 x