When the boys were little I took them to the children’s museum and there was this giant plexiglass wall that kids could paint on. there were sponges, and spray bottles and squeegees, and the boys would play there for hours. I always wanted to make one, on a slightly smaller scale, for our home. we talked about it and talked about it, but it just never got done.
UNTIL THIS YEAR.
I had always imagined a double sided plexiglass wall- one for water play and the other for outdoor painting.
We found a sneeze guard on craigslist for 15.00- and i knew instantly this was it!
now, we bought this sneeze guard. but you could easily make one yourself- it’s just a piece of plexiglass framed with wood.
we attached the sneeze guard to two cement pillars we purchased from home depot to anchor it solidly and raise it to the right height for preschoolers.
the most important part is glueing two small pieces of gutter to the bottom of your plexiglass. this will allow the water to pool in the bottom so kids can scoop and pour (such a good fine motor skill!) for the water wall, and on the painting side it will hold your paints, spray bottles, and squeegee. both sides have a hole drilled and a plug, so that when not in use water will drain out of the gutters and not fester.
You can buy gutter at any home improvement store, cut them to size, and put end caps on each side. we used an epoxy glue to seal the seams and glue it to the plexiglass. then, we spray painted everything black for aesthetics.
then, you just need your supplies! for this project i used:
The Lydaz pipe bath toy is probably my favorite because it blends science and real life mechanics of plumbing with switches kids can turn on and off to manipulate where the water travels. but, the Elot ball tracks are the kids’ favorite because they will literally spend hours pouring water (and water beads!) down those water slides.
both of these are attached to the plexiglass with suction cups, so it is easy for kids to slide them around, manipulate and experiment with the physics of gravity, and reattach.
Science and art, man!
the paint cups are a MUST. friends… these are so indispensable. they essentially have two caps- one (pictured) that is a non-spill cap that also holds the paint brush. when kids are painting and getting wild, even if it tips over, no paint is lost. The other cap is a traditional cap that fits over the non-spill cap. i can leave these paint cups outside for weeks and weeks, no problem. i don’t know how preschoolers painted before the invention of these cups. we have a set for inside, and a set for outside.
we use regular washable kids tempura paint, so it’s no biggie if it gets on the ground (or anywhere else). it washes right off!
we bought the outdoor lanterns from ikea- they look like paper but they are waterproof fabric! they are also solar powered- so they illuminate this darkly lit area in the evening for a few hours and make this entire space so magical.
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