You could easily call last summer the Year of the Backyard Pool, as the pandemic forced families away from crowded lakes, beaches and community centers. According to the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance, pool sales increased more than 20% in 2020, even as many families turned to bounce houses, backyard splash pads, Slip ‘N Slides and other items filled with water to keep cool at home.
If you want to turn your yard into a water park without the long-term commitment of a real pool, here’s how to get started.
Know your options.
The world of backyard water entertainment has come a long way since the sprinklers of four decades ago. Water enthusiasts can now choose from bounce houses, water tables, elaborate sprinklers, inflatables of all shapes and sizes, splash pads and more.
For Jaime Maser Berman, 43, a beauty publicist in Westfield, New Jersey, the pandemic led to a move to the suburbs and an abundance of water-related toys. Maser Berman and his family invested in a Slip ‘N Slide and an inflatable baby pool, and accepted a water table from one of his sisters. Their backyard water park project has been a success.
“If our backyard was bigger, I’d probably try to convince my husband that we should have a water bounce house,” she said. (Bouncy houses take up a considerable amount of flat yard space.)
Thomas Jepsen, 30, of Raleigh, North Carolina, bought a bounce house for his children in the middle of the pandemic. Jepsen, chief executive of a company called Passion Plans, which connects home buyers with architects and designers, said her children needed entertainment. Luckily, Jepsen said, he had “a pretty big backyard,” and after his kids visited a friend with a water bounce house, the family fell in love with it and decided to buy one.
Major retailers, including Target, Amazon, and Wayfair, have bouncy water bounce houses. They range from $300 to $500 and are suitable for children ages 5 and up. They can also take up about 150 square feet and weigh up to 600 pounds when inflated.
Slip ‘N Slides and their off-brand cousins can be used on terrain that isn’t flat but still requires ample yard space; they run from 12 to 60 feet long.
If bounce houses and slides are too big for your yard, H20GO! makes a 6-foot-tall and approximately 4-foot-long caterpillar, an inflatable sprinkler system suitable for children ages 2 and up. Fat Brain Toys offers a 6-foot tall inflatable unicorn sprinkler and a compact light sprinkler that can be attached to any standard hose.
Water tables, which range from about $50 to more than $100, offer younger children a chance to play in the water without the hassle of a pool. They can be placed on the lawn, patio or deck and, once filled, do not need to sit for a few days. Little Tikes makes sturdy water tables (as well as a new product on the market called the Foamo Foam Machine, which produces a small mountain of non-toxic foam that can be used outdoors).
The flat pads are on the ground and allow children to play in a shallow water disc.
Lindsay Fargo, 42, of Santa Cruz, Calif., bought a pad for her 2-year-old daughter last year. Fargo, senior product growth consultant for Little Bridges, which sells multigenerational activity kits, found that the splash pad left “room in the yard for more fun” but was “big enough for a few members of the family could enjoy together.”
He also liked how easy it was to store, keeping it in the garage or garden shed. The splash pad, he said, was easy to use: attach a garden hose and let it go.
“Parental lungs or trips to the hardware store for air pumps are not required here,” he said.
Compact and weighing between 2 and 3 pounds, splash pads can be safely used by children up to 2 years old. They’re also a good choice for people who want to spend a little less (they’re available for $50 or more) or who have smaller outdoor areas.
Know your needs.
When shopping for outdoor water toys, consider your budget, space limitations, and whether you have flat ground, which is necessary for pads and inflatables. (And make sure you have a hose long enough to reach it.)
You’ll also want to consider potential drawbacks. The pads, Fargo said, can pool especially cold water because the water is continuously coming out of the hose and doesn’t have a chance to warm up in the sun. But that doesn’t necessarily have to be a deal breaker. The temperature, Fargo said, “may have shortened our playing time a little bit, but it made us feel like we were wasting less water.”
Water use, as a whole, is a valid consideration, especially when environmental impact is taken into account. Since water cannot be recycled in many active water toys, the most environmentally friendly option is a water table, which only requires a single fill and no constant running of the hose.
Water tables need to be topped up every few days, but still consume less than sprinklers, bounce houses and splash pads. And because they can be used on hard surfaces, they won’t cause damage to your lawn.
Inflatables, in particular, can kill grass, said Caitlin Manner, 37, a writer from Panama City, Florida. Last summer, when her sons were 2, 5 and 8, Manner bought a bounce house with a pool and slide.
“It definitely killed a patch of grass,” Manner said. “If you leave it for more than two days, this herb is toast.”
Keep them clean.
Outdoor water toys are prone to mold, mildew, pollen and animal damage. To maintain them better, spray them regularly with water and clean them thoroughly when necessary.
Jepsen recommends cleaning bounce houses and other outdoor water toys with a solution of vinegar and dish soap. Make your own solution by combining, in a spray bottle, ¼ cup white vinegar, ½ teaspoon dish soap, and 2 ½ cups water. Spray the cleaner all over the inflatable, wash it with clean water and let it dry.
He also suggests deflating and drying bounce houses regularly, advice that can be translated to any inflatable water toy.
