Have fun creating a swimming pool for a favourite doll. This is surprisingly quick and easy so is a fun activity to make together with a child if you prepare everything in advance.
Time: 1 hour
Age: Under 5's, 5-10's
Level: Medium
Materials
Plastic container with a rim around the edge to make the pool
Blue tissue paper and/or blue cellophane
Green felt (for grassy area)
Cork mat (for pool surround area)
Small piece of modelling clay (to hold the umbrella)
Piece of old towel or wash cloth
2 silver pipe cleaners to make a ladder
We used an A3 size cardboard box
We used one half of a salad container for our pool
The cork sheet gave a fun texture around the pool but you could use a piece of lino or just draw on the box and stick down a piece of clear sticky back contact paper
Glue the green felt onto one side of the box to create a grassy zone.
Draw around the bottom of your plastic tub on the other side of the box and cut out. Check that the plastic tub will fit into the hole but will be supported by the rim of the tub so that it doesn't fall right through.
Cut a matching sized hole in the cork mat (or lino or sticky back plastic).
Stick the cork mat down into the box with PVA glue, matching up the holes.
Spread PVA glue to the outside of the plastic tub and cover with scraps of blue tissue paper and blue cellophane. This will create a great mosaic effect but leave the inside of the pool smooth and waterproof.
Scraps of blue tissue and cellophane ready to stick on
Cover the whole of the outside of the tub
Insert the plastic tub into the hole in the box. The lip of the box should sit snugly over the cork surround.
Insert the blue tub
The lip on the tub stops it falling right through
Make a pool ladder by cutting 2 long pieces and 3 shorter pieces out of 2 silver pipe cleaners. Twist the short pieces around the 2 long pieces then curve the ends of the long pieces to make handles.
Pipe cleaners cut up ready to twist into a ladder
Ladder fitted onto the pool
Now it's time to accessorize! Cut a few pool towels from an old wash cloth or towel. Use cocktail umbrellas stuck into modelling clay to make pool umbrellas.
Your pool is now ready to fill with water. Have fun!
Please upload pictures of your creation via the comments section. If you liked this activity, try making a
doll's supermarket or
holiday play scene.
Categories
#Medium
#Under 5s
#5 to 10s
#Dolls
#Toys
#Imaginative Play
#Felt
#Cardboard box
#Cork
#Umbrella
#Water
#Parent Craft 
