My kids have loved our DIY PVC pipe sprinkler and waterslide, and I am so glad it has been keeping them active and playing outside. Last year my husband put this together, and we couldn’t wait to pull it out again this year.
This is perfect for hours of fun, and I especially love having neighborhood friends come over and play in it.
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As we were running around and playing in our sprinkler, I thought it would be awesome to put it on our Clubhouse Climber slide, and it made the best waterslide! Those slides get hot in the summer, and I usually just spray it with the hose. This worked so much better! And I could take photos instead of holding the hose!
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This sprinkler is super fun because you can have it raining down directly or you can twist the top part upward to make it more like a fountain. The very last photo below shows you how that looks!
Now, here is the full tutorial to make your own pvc pipe sprinkler and waterslide, written by the amazing builder AKA my husband. 🙂
DIY PVC Pipe Sprinkler and Waterslide
When I was young, I spent almost all day outside enjoying the summer sun. However, playing in the sun gets really hot after a while. One of the best ways to stay cool while playing outside is with sprinklers or a waterslide!
Materials
All the materials you will need are readily available at your local hardware store. The parts will be ½ inch.
- 3 five foot long sticks of PVC pipe
- 2 PVC “T” joints
- 2 PVC elbow joints
- 3 PVC caps
- 1 PVC hose connector
- PVC Pipe Cutter
- Glue
- A drill with a small drill bit
To make the waterslide, all you will need is a slide! Our playset with a slide is called a Step2 Naturally Playful Clubhouse Climber
.
When choosing a tool to cut the pipes, there are a few options. Using a saw doesn’t leave clean edges, and that will make it harder to put together and glue. You can use a traditional Constant Swing Feed Cutter
.
If you have to purchase something, I recommend one like this called a PVC Pipe Cutter
. It can be used to cut all kinds of tubular and round items, so you could get more use out of it.
As for glue, traditional PVC glue can be used if you have it laying around the house. Otherwise, superglue will work fine. You want the pieces to hold together, but not necessarily be water tight under pressure. Glue is actually not even necessary. You will just be putting it back together a lot if you don’t use it, but this makes for easy storage.
Instructions
First, cut the pipes. Cut two of the pipes to be 48 inches long. Next, use the remaining stick and cut it at 36 inches and cut the remaining piece in half. This should leave you with four sticks that are about 12 inches long, which you will use for the base.
Keep in mind that perfection isn’t necessary here. These materials are pretty forgiving if cuts aren’t exact.
There is one more step before assembly. Drill some holes in the 36 inch length of pipe. This is where the water will come out to make a sprinkler!
Try to drill them in a line and only go through one side of the pipe. Drill bit size should be small, but too small will result in a mist instead of a stream of water.
Start assembly with the bases. Take the four small pieces and glue the caps on three of the pieces and the hose connector on the last. Now glue the other side of the small sticks into the “T” connector so that they make a straight line. Next, glue the long sticks into the “T” connector and then glue the elbow joints to the top so that they are perpendicular to the base.
Finally, put the pipe that you drilled into the elbows. You can glue this piece, but I recommend that you don’t. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, you can adjust the stream to go up or down or however you like. Secondly, if it’s not glued, you can take it apart so that it can be more easily stored.
All that is left is to hook up the hose and watch the fun!
Some other really cool options would be to make a DIY kid car wash! Here’s another one with pool noodles.
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This is such a good idea. My husband is a plumber so we already have the supplies!