My kids love to play with water. So instead of having to deal with them making a mess in the bathroom all the time, I wanted to make a water table so the mess could be outside.

I just wanted to build a simple container that holds water. Nothing complicated or flashy. This is what I came up with.

Step 1: Materials Needed

Materials

Storage Bin of your choosing.
Wood (1 1/2 by 1 1/2 planks from hardware store)
Wood screws.
Water

Tools

Miter box and saw
Tape Measure
Drill and driver

Step 2: Make the Legs for the Frame.

How high do you want your water table to sit? My kids are still small so it is not that tall.

I used my miter box's built in 22.5º angle to cut the legs. This way the lets are at an angle and adds more stability to the structure.

I first decided how tall I wanted it and then used a Right Triangle calculator to figure out how long the angled legs should be to achieve the desired height.

Step 3: Build the Rest of the Frame

Now that you have the legs cut you can build the rest of the frame. Carefully measuring the bottom of the bin cut the wood to size. Mine ended up looking like a small weird looking saw horse.

When you put it all together I used ordinary deck screws to secure them together. Make sure to pre-drill the holes first.

Step 4: Attach the Bin to the Frame

Now that the frame is built and it fits well with the bin, it is time to secure the bin to the frame.

I opted to use smaller screws with washers so the plastic has a harder time to pull through.

Place the bin on top of the wood frame and pre-drill holes for the screws. Then just put the washer on the screw and drill it in. Make sure not to over tighten it.

Step 5: Fill With Water and Check for Leaks

The screws that hold the bin in place should be water tight but may not be.

Fill the bin with water and see if you have leaks. If so then you can put some silicon around the screw heads and it should patch it up.

Step 6: Other Modifications.

Now that you have your basic table set up you can make more mods to it.

In researching this project I found some ideas that I may try in the future.

One was to hook the table up to the hose so it is always full of water and ready to go.

Another consisted with a water pump and tubes. It had water shooting out of the tubes and looks cool.

water pump table