DIY Big Kid Water Table

I don't know why water tables only seem to come in toddler size. My big kids love them as much as they ever did as toddlers. They give their doll a bath, or pretend to be cooking, or just enjoy pouring water from one container to another.

Recently, I made a water table tall enough for them. It was really easy.

For the base I used these storage drawers (which is really convenient, because they can hide things in the bottom two drawers when they're done playing).

I put a long storage bin on top, and secured it with some bungie cords. Presto-magico — it's done :-)

The bungie cords are not very tight (I don't think it would be safe if they were) —they're just there to keep the top from easily sliding off.

Here are Zoe and Ashley with my neighbor's cutie-pie.

You can really tell from this angle that the table is at the right height for bigger kiddos.

Fun things to play with in the water:

♥ Reused kitchenware from the thrift store (whisk, egg-beater, spatula, ladle, funnel, plastic bowls, etc).

♥ Dolls that can get wet.

♥ Sticks, leaves, rocks (you can build your own floats with sticks and twine - so fun!).

♥ Squirt toys (bath toys that squirt water - especially great for hot days).

♥, Kelly

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The Little Rascals

Click to see it larger.

All of these kids live on our street, and play nearly every night :-)

Left to right: Ashley, Fatima, Zoe, Abi, Tanya, Kelsey, Madeline, Blaire

Off-camera to the left is Rose, Madeline's sister.

Believe it or not we are missing three kids from our block in this photo: Zion, Sage and Jacobi

So when they are all present that's 12 kids under age 9, just on our street. They are going to have some great memories I think :-)

A close-up from last week. They are so beautiful =)

sand and a mask

It's been too cold yet for the water table, so...

I bought a bag of play sand (for less than $4!),
and tried on the mask my mom sent...

I love how wild and colorful it is =)

playing in the snow fort

playing in the snow

first snow of the season

We had snow today, and it wasn't even coat weather a few days ago -that's the Front Range for you. Totally erratic, totally unpredictable. Our first winter here, it snowed every 4 days. Then last winter it snowed maybe 3 times total where we live, and it was really warm. We're hoping this winter will be like our first :-)

I'm so excited I found Ashley these matching snow pants (with bib) and coat on Ebay, used, for 25 dollars. They're in great shape, and might even fit again next year. Zoe is still wearing a hand-me-down snow pants, and not too happy about it, but she got to get new snow boots, because she outgrew her last pair. I found her coat on clearance years ago, and it was pretty big at first, but she's grown into it. If it still fits again next year, that will be 4 years she's used it!

They spent the day outside for the most part, with our neighbor, Abi, who is 9. Only when they got hungry did they come inside. Abi was a big fan of my chicken meatloaf, a real boost to my confidence, since neither of mine like meatloaf. We also had salad with GF toast, cut finely like croutons, salami, goat cheese, hemp seeds and I made some honey mustard vinaigrette. The salad was a hit all around. ...Why am I blogging about food here, and not on The Spunky Coconut? LOL

"summer snow"

The cottonwood trees.

Zoe's ball.

See the white flakes in the air behind Zoe? That's not snow :-)

We spent the afternoon at our favorite coffee shop, cottonwood blowing through the air like summer snow. It was really quite magical. So much so, that I called Andy, who rode over on his bike to see for himself, over a pot of tea. The girls ran back and forth in the downpour of cotton, just like they do in snow, even gathering it into balls. I also took some video on our camera, which by the way, I didn't even know took video until today. (see post below for video)

To South Mesa Trailhead

with our environmental club, Roots & Shoots.

Driving out of our development. You can see the mountains still covered in snow.

Almost at highway 93.

View from the car, on Eldorado Springs Drive.

Almost at the trail.

The younger group with the volunteer naturalist. 

Nature journaling.

a rare treat

While Andy and Ashley were out a few days ago, when we were expecting 20 inches of snow, it began to rain. It has probably rained less than 5 times in the year and a half that we've lived here, so this was a rare treat! Zoe ran up and got her raincoat, which luckily still fit okay. She's long outgrown her rain boots, which I never bothered to replace, obviously. :-)

She had such a good time that I think it may have made up for that fact that we got barely a few moments of snow flakes, during the two days straight of rain that followed. After she walked around for a while she used paint brushes to draw in the mud, talking to herself the whole time. It was so cute. 

biking to the creek

We took about an 8 mile bike today, with Andy's sister, Tegan. It was a beautiful day, and we had a fabulous time. The spot we like to hang out is so enchanting. The water is low enough to sit on the large rocks in the middle of the creek. We had a snack, I did some sewing (a purse for Ashley - Zoe is sewing herself an identical one), and the girls collected sticks and leaves. Then we headed further down to the big ponds.

from 75 to 35 in a day

What do you do when you have a foot of snow, but no hills?

Build a hill.

With steps!

Next time we just have to remember that snow is reflective. All the neighborhood kids are now sunburnt. They aren't complaining though :-)

homemade water table

Lately Ashley has been craving water for play. We go to the pool a lot, but even at home, she's been going into the bathroom and playing with water in the sink. Well, today, she accidentally got water all over the bathroom floor. So I had to come up with another solution. I went through the phone book, calling at least 6 stores and second hand shops, but no one had a water table yet. It may be warm outside, but they wont be getting them in for a month, they thought.

Then I found a bunch online, at Amazon and such, but they were so expensive! The least expensive one was over 50 dollars, and I wasn't all that impressed with it. That's when I remembered I had this long storage container on the top of my closet, empty. It's actually meant to slide under a bed I think.

The girls and I took a quick trip to Bed Bath & Beyond, and I got the deepest container I could find, to use as a pedestal. It was about 16 dollars.

We brought it inside, and Andy turned the deep container upside down. He drilled two holes in the bottom at each corner. Then he drilled one hole at the top of the shallow container, in each corner.

We used plastic ties to secure the two containers together.

Our neighbor's daughter came over for a little while, and all the girls had a great time with the new water table. They were all in green for St. Patrick's Day. Then two more neighbors and their dog, came and sat on the other side of the porch with me, and we talked, while the girls played. After a while the two big girls got up to go find leprechauns in the grass. It was such a nice afternoon.

swinging

Here are a few pictures of the girls, swinging at our friend's house, after we went to the lake. Thanks Emily, for sending me these! We want to come over again soon!

a big day

Today was a big day. It was another fine spring-like day here in the Colorado front range, and the girls asked to ride their bikes. However, Zoe rides a kind of half bike, you know, it has only one wheel, and it attaches to an adult bike. So for her to ride, means I must also ride, and besides that, all of the tires are flat from these thorns they have here in the high desert. So I let them take out Ashley's trike, and Zoe climbed on the back while Ashley sat in front. We passed our neighbor, and she said how it looked like we needed a new bike. I really wanted to give Zoe a new bike, I just didn't have the money.

So I brought the girls inside and opened my laptop. I found a thrift store, right nearby, and called them up. "Do you have any kids bikes?" I asked. "How much are they?" I said. "Fifteen dollars? I'll be right over." And just like that, Zoe got her first bike. Boy did she scream when she saw me take it out of the car! "I'm loving this bike!" she told me after one trip down the block and back. I was overflowing with pride.

I remember the day I got my first bike like it was yesterday, don't you? And I'll never forget today. Twenty years from now, I'll still be able to picture it, the day in February, it was 65 degrees, blue skies and very windy. Her polka dot jacket, with the same hot pink in it as the bike. The training wheels that Andrew put on while she waited impatiently. Her smile so big and wide. Awesome.

72 degrees

For about, I don't know, 10 days now (?), it's been really warm here in the Front Range. Yesterday and today, in fact, have felt like 72 in the sunshine. It's so incredible, I feel like we live in Arizona right now. Well, winter in Arizona anyway :-)

Since we live in a new development the trees are not anywhere near mature yet, so we open up this tent in our front yard for the kids to play in and get some shade from the intense sun. Just a little while ago I added their "egg chair" (which spins all the way around BTW - so fun!) because the wind was blowing the tent away. I thought they looked so beautiful inside, eating their apples, I just had to take some pictures :-) Love, Kelly