How to make a backyard water blob
I never thought we’d be ironing in the backyard or that we’d be wading through a mini-flood a couple of hours later. But when Pinterest tells you something is a good idea, you really just have to go with it.
Water blobs are a fun way for kids to keep cool in the summer and they’re easy to make. All you’ll need is a roll of heavy plastic sheeting, parchment paper, scissors, an iron, an ironing board and a roll of sturdy tape (we used Gorilla tape).
Here’s how to make your own backyard water blob:
1. Spread out the plastic sheeting. We unrolled a long section of sheeting, spread it flat and then folded it over once to create a huge rectangle. Use rocks or bricks to keep it flat against the grass.
2. Prep your parchment paper. Cut a piece that’s about 60cm long and fold it over lengthwise twice. The paper will protect your iron from melting the plastic sheeting.
3. Get your iron nice and hot. Lay your ironing board on the grass, and wrap the folded parchment paper around where the two layers of plastic come together (if it was a sandwich, the paper is the bread and the plastic is the filling).
Run the iron over the paper for a few seconds. Carefully remove the hot parchment paper and you’ll see the two layers of plastic have melted together to create a seam.
Continue around the entire perimeter, leaving a small gap for the hose.
4. Fill ’er up. We used our hose and the neighbour’s hose to speed up the filling process, and it still took almost an hour. Add blue food colouring and glitter for an “ocean” look the kids will love, but be prepared to use a full bottle or two!
5. Seal the gap. Once the blob is filled, shut off the water, remove the hose and seal the hole with a bit of tape. Squirt some dish soap over the surface to make it slippery, turn on the sprinkler and you’re ready to play!
Our water blob lasted about an hour and then it sprung some pretty serious leaks that tape couldn’t fix.
The ironed seams held up really well, with just a few pinhole leaks, but it was the kids’ feet and knees that popped holes into the surface of the blob.
We plan on making more blobs for sure, but we’re going to be less ambitious about the size. Ours was way too large, and the plastic was stretched too thin, so we’ll double up the plastic layers next time.
This would be a great project to attempt during a drought, because you should have seen the torrential soaking the blob gave our lawn when it sprung all of those leaks — and then was enthusiastically ripped open by the kids.
We won’t need to turn on the sprinkler anytime soon, that’s for sure.
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