Today we made a pond.
Usually my small people play in my sink, and I don’t mind that, but the weather’s changed so we’re always outside. I am working on plans for another awesome find from Let The Children Play, a water wall. Until I gather all the necessary items, I needed something else. I thought of how much my sisters and I loved puddles growing up, and I thought, “Why not give them a giant puddle?” It was really more of an exploratory exercise: look how the composition of the soil is changing, which tree do you think these roots are coming from?, if we dig really far down, what do you think we’ll find? But the puddle turned out okay too. My daughters and our neighbor loved it.
First we picked a spot.
We knew there would be roots but we wanted shade. North Carolina sun is pretty hateful in the summer.
Then we got our shovels.
These babies were $1 apiece at Big Lots.
Then, we dug.
And dug.
Then I let Ryleigh dig while I sipped mint green tea.
You go, Girl. 'Cause I'm stopping.
Then we were done digging.
My wrists didn't like me so much right then.
I wanted something to cover the dirt with, so that the “pond” water would be easy to clean. I decided on tarp. Then I remembered I don’t have tarp so I went with an old shower curtain liner. I cut it to size first.
Then I tucked the tarp, er, shower thingy, into the hole.
I swear I'm not a child.
Then we put the water in.
Hint: if you do this too fast you will get wet. You're welcome.
We put rocks in the bottom to hold it down.
Then it was time for ambiance.
Is that? It is! Driftwood!
Why are my hands always covered in mud? Oh yes, because I have children.
Not sure where we got one random boat. Most likely the Salvation Army store.
The other "boats" I'd already purchased, whole bag for one dollar. They've been sitting in my kitchen for weeks.
Sea turtles, sharks, lobsters, and squirting sea creatures.
Then, it was time to let the children play. 
xoxo
They made up an awesomely funny game about alligator superheroes.
Oh yeah, watch out for crabs.
Cost: about $5.
Return: immeasurable.
Play on.
I love this idea! My toddler can seriously play in a puddle for a long time. We don’t have a backyard but we go to the park near us and we’ll sometimes catch a nice puddle after a rain or a sprinkler.
I’m so glad you like it! Puddles offer endless fun for small children…and we are all water lovers. Thank you for reading.
What a great idea and such a natural water play in the garden as well. I’m pinning this to my gardening with kids board and would love to share this with my hose free water play in the garden post going live next week – can you let me know whether it would be possible to share at rainydaymum [at] gmail [dot] com.
Thank you for linking up to Kid’s Co-op this week
I would be so honored if you’d share it, thank you so much for the support! I look forward to visiting your blog as well. Thank you so much!
Awesome! Love this idea!!