Wednesday 20 June 2012

Glorious guttering-frugal fun

Last year, we had to have some guttering replaced. There were some lengths left which were just sitting in a shed. These seemed ideal for play use.

The lengths are plastic and without sharp edges. Obviously, this is only frugal if you happen to have some guttering sitting around although planks of wood could be used equally well for some of the activities. It would be more important to secure these carefully due to their weight.

I put the guttering up at different heights on the slide. This didn't interest the children so they asked me to move things around and made race tracks with the guttering from the swing into the "jungle" of weeds.


This kept them busy for a fair time but putting the guttering on the ground provided some impromptu balance boards. There was plenty of talk about acting out Mirette on the highwire. I did intervene to prevent attempts at walking on guttering suspended on the swing!

Water came next. Anything outside tends to involve water.

Making a water wall needed plenty of practice!

Finally, we hunted for snails for a snail race. Amazingly, we only found one; perhaps, there are so many slugs that the snails don't have a chance. The one we found seemed more interested in escaping perhaps because there were so many squeals about its size.


I'm sure that these two pieces of gutter are likely to provide more fun over the summer before I put them to another purpose-maybe bookshelves or planters?



This is linked to 4 weeks of frugal fun, the weekly kids co-opScience sparksLiving Life Intentionally and Summer-Sensory-Fun.

16 comments:

  1. This is one of those "Why didn't I think of that?" ideas! Thanks for sharing. Can't wait to try it out. My kiddies are going to go wild!!!

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  2. Sarah, I couldn't work out why I had had the gutter sitting around since last summer and done nothing with it. It is such a fun play material!

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  3. Oh what fun! love the adding water to it and the ramps are brilliant for races - you could try our viscosity races in them!

    Thanks for sharing on Science Sparks

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  4. What a great idea! My kids would love this.

    The ducks look so cute in there :)

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  5. Science Sparks-the viscosity races are a great idea-must try this.

    Stacy-glad you liked the idea. The guttering seemed to give the ducks a new lease of life.

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  6. This looks like so much fun! I bet the kids loved it :) What a great way to use something that you had just laying around!

    I'm hosting a Summer Sensory Fun Link Party today through next week, and would absolutely love it if you would link up this post! It's perfect! There's both gross motor and fine motor skills involved while kids are running after their racing objects and placing things in the gutter. So fun! I hope you'll swing by and visit--it would be great to have you!

    ♥ Bethany

    www.happyhomemaker.me

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  7. What a clever idea!! Why haven't I thought of that?!?!? My mind is spinning with all the great uses!! Thanks for linking up to TGIF! If you have a moment I'd love your vote in Circle of Moms Top 25 Homeschooling blogs (http://www.circleofmoms.com/top25/Top-25-Homeschooling-Moms-2012) - Thanks!!
    Beth
    www.livinglifeintentionally.blogspot.com

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  8. Thanks Beth, I've just popped over to Circle of Moms.

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  9. Bethany, I've just linked up. Will enjoy looking through the other Summer Sensory Fun posts.

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    1. I'm so glad you did! Thank you! I shared your idea on Happy Homemaker Me's Facebook page. Hope it brings new people to your site! www.facebook.com/happyhomemakerme

      ♥ Bethany

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  10. This looks like such a great idea!! I think I may have to find some gutters myself! Maybe we will add them to our water wall! My girls will love this! Thanks for the good idea! - Erica - busyhandsblessedhearts.blogspot.com

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  11. Erica-a water wall sounds wonderful.

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  12. i love this! I might have to buy some gutters just to try it out!

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  13. Everything we do in the back garden always ends up involving water too! This looks like so much fun. Great uses for something you already had on hand. Thanks for linking this up to the Weekly Kids Co-op!

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  14. I work with guttering every day and never considered that it could be ideal for my children’s outdoor entertainment centre. What a fantastic idea!

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