Uses for Wading Pools

Patio garden using child's pool and barrel

Once that wading pool is no longer of use for the kids, it can be repurposed in many different ways. This guide is about uses for wading pools.

Solutions: Uses for Wading Pools

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Use Wading Pools to Keep Food Cold

I want to share how our family utilized a small place to set out food at our family reunion! We have a large family so we needed all the room we could get! The kitchen area only had a 3 foot wide cement counter so that's where all the food had to be placed. We used 2 children's small swimming pools that we purchased at Walmart, I think it was $4.88 each.

We just arranged the bowls and poured ice around it, We were under a pavilion and the food stayed cold all afternoon! Clean up is easy. Remove the bowls and dump the ice.

Save the pools for future parties/reunions! Unless the kids claim them :)

Everyone said "Wow, who thought of this?" Sure helped put a lot of food in a small area.

By Ariela from Michigan

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Use a Child's Swimming Pool for a Patio Garden

We do not have a place in our backyard to plant a "regular" garden, but we did have room on our patio deck to do something. I came up with an idea for a small garden using a child's plastic swimming pool. I poked holes all over the bottom for drainage, added fertilizer and soil, and planted tomato and pepper plants. I did the same thing using an old plastic barrel-cut in half lengthwise for basil, cilantro, and radishes. Patio garden using child's pool and barrel

As you can see, all my "garden" products are growing well. Close up of pepper growing in child's pool bed.

By LisaE from WI

Update: We have had extreme heat the last week, and I wanted to show how much my tomatoes, green peppers, and herbs have grown and that using a plastic pool really does work for those with limited backyard space. I just took these pictures. Tomatoes grown in a child's swimming pool. Cilantro growing in a child's wading pool. Green peppers growing in a child's wading pool.

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Kiddie Pool As Cooler

When cooking and serving out-of-doors, pick up one of those cheap, rigid plastic kiddy pools, fill it with ice, and set bowls of cold foods in the ice. You can also keep cans of juice or soda pop in the pool.

Start Seeds in a Kids Swimming Pool

I do not have the money to go buy the small trays to start seedlings. So, we had a little kid swimming pool we would use to remove the fish from the pond to clean it. I put two bags of top soil in it. In two sections, one side I have tomato plants and the other I have marigolds seeds I saved and dried from last year when they sprout and I transplant them.

I am going to pie it off and start more than just two things I am seeing how good this works.

By Laura from Ocala, Florida

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Use a Child's Wading Pool as a Garden

My grandchildren out-grew their little pool, I didn't want to throw it away so I made a small vegetable garden out of it. I am disabled and I can pull my lawn chair up to the pool and work in it. Best of all, I never had any weeds in it all year. After the Spring and Summer veggies. I just planted some green peas and bush beans for Fall. They were wonderful. By Sharon from Van Buren, Arkansas

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Use for a Cracked Wading Pool

At the end of the summer, when your hard plastic wading pool develops a crack, turn it into a sand box. Add more cracks or holes in the bottom for drainage and add sand.

Vickie

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Wading Pool For Yard Waste

A large hard plastic baby pool makes a great container for cleaning up leaves and yard debris. Punch 2 holes in the side and run a rope through to make a handle so you can drag it around.

By Betty from Louisburg, NC

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Wading Pool For Yard Waste

This tip needs a small to medium child's wading pool, either new or used. You can reuse the pool as a leaf or garden disposing vehicle. It can carry a multitude of garden or lawn refuse and will not leave wheel marks on your lawn. It is so easy to pull toward that compost area and is easily dumped.

Drill two holes the diameter size of a piece of rope on the side rim of the pool. I use 10 to 12 feet of nylon rope as it is strong as a pulling handle and a washer on either side of the inserted rope hole to keep plastic strong. Knot the rope on the inside of the pool to provide a pulling handle. Drill a few small holes in pool for drainage if you leave the pool outside.

A great useful idea to recycle a plastic wading pool.

By Edna from West Bath, Maine

RE: Wading Pool For Yard Waste

This works really great and I've had mine in use for at least 5 yrs. The pool is very strong and easy to handle. This was an original idea from Edna many years ago. (01/12/2007)

By MS P

RE: Wading Pool For Yard Waste

USE THE WADING POOL AS IS to fertilize all your pot plants of similar size AT THE SAME TIME> Just mix up a large batch of fertilizer/water in the pool, mixing well, then set all the plants in the pool for several hours. The water/fert. mix level will go down drastically as the plants all get their feeding as they sit, while you have washed the patio, raked leaves, and taken a rest. I got this idea from an old gardener selling his plants at a flea market once. It works VERY well for many plants at a time. Save any leftovers in a few plastic gallon jugs in a cool place or garage until next time needed, noting how much NOT to make the next time you begin to make up the mix. God bless those wading pools. (01/27/2007)

By Lynda