Stylish & Simple Garden Water Play

I made a simple yet stylish water play garden toy for my kids using wood and a couple of IKEA storage boxes. Our old water toy was plastic and started to crack after a year in the sun so I thought I would make something more stylish and customised for my children. Total cost should not be more than $20.

Supplies

Materials:

• Some planed (smooth to avoid splinters) wooden planks, however if your wood is rough you could just apply more varnish to make it kid friendly. Total length of wood required is around 11' (3.3m). Ive used 3/4" x 3" (2½ x 8 cm) which was leftover from my new fence but you can use anything similar. Ideally untreated as it will be varnished at the end. The lighter the wood the better if you plan to make some drawing/engraving before varnishing.
• 4 x metal L brackets to provide strength to the top frame
• 2 x IKEA SAMLA boxes (the top photos also shows a third big box which is great to put everything into for the winter, you can also get lids for the boxes):
• Top box: 15¼ x 11 x 5½" 3 gallon / 39x28x14 cm/11 L (IKEA article number 401.029.78)
• Bottom box: 15¼ x 11 x 11" /6 gallon / 39x28x28 cm/22 L (IKEA article number 801.029.76)
• Big Box (optional shown in top pictures) 22x15 ¼x16 ½"/17 gallon / 56x39x42 cm/65 L (IKEA article number 001.029.75)

Supplies:

• Wood Glue
• Approx 24 x Screws (Ive used 1¼" number 8 but you could use longer if your wood is thicker). The screws to secure the internal brackets should not go completely through the wood so these need to be shorter depending on your wood thickness
• Clear Varnish for outside use

Tools:

• Saw for cutting the wood
• Sandpaper to smooth the cut edges on the wood
• Drill for making pilot holes for screws to avoid wood splitting
• Screwdriver
• Pencil, Magnifying Glass and Sunglasses if you want to add some wood burnt drawings or a sharpie if you just want to draw something nice to make it customised and unique

Step 1: Cut the Wood and Assemble the Frame

The first step is to cut the wood to the required lengths. Basically there is the frame around the box (4 pieces) and 4 legs (so 8 pieces of wood)

Frame: The important thing here is to get the frame the correct size so the IKEA box fits into the frame (isnt too lose or too tight). The internal dimensions of the frame at the top (where the box will rest) need to be: 10 1/16" x 14 1/2" (as per the photos), thats 25.5 x 36.8cm in metric. Apply wood glue to the internal surfaces of the frame and screw the L brackets at the bottom of the frame to give the frame strength (dont put the L brackets at the top of the frame otherwise it will hinger the box fitting properly).

Legs: After the glue on the frame has dried (upto 24 hours depending on the wood glue) then fit the legs. I have used legs of 18" (45 cm) in height but you can adjust accordingly, this height is good for toddlers. Apply wood glue to the internal surfaces and screw on. I used between 2 and 4 screws to get a strong joint. Allow the glue to dry before proceeding to step 2.

Step 2: Customise With Some Drawing or Woodburning

So you now have the wooden frame completed. Its time to customise it. I have a FEBO lens which is designed for burning wood using the sun but you can use either a magnifying glass or a wood burning iron.

Draw your design in pencil and then burn. You can also just draw the design on (since the wood will be varnished it will survive getting wet).

WEAR GOOD QUALITY SUNGLASSES when using the magnifying glass. Adult supervision is required here.

Step 3: Varnish

Apply 2 coats of clear varnish (suitable for outside use) and you are done. Its time to lets the kids loose on it and play !

Step 4: Time to Play

Depending on the age of the children they might be happy with plastic cups and yogurt pots and clean water of course. Ive collected different water toys including a ramp and a bucket chain (which is also easy to make from yogurt pots), kids are usually amazed that water can go around corners. Have fun !