Toddlers are fascinated with a waterfall, a fountain, or water in general, and all you need to entertain a toddler for a substantial period of time is a water source and a few cups, funnels, or pots to move water around with. They even love helping with the dishes, and I have found that a 2-year-old can be entertained for quite a while standing next to me at a sink full of dirty dishes, provided I don’t mind changing clothes and mopping up the floor a little afterward.
The Invention of Kate’s Pineapple Waterfall
On a recent visit to my house, my granddaughter Kate announced that she wanted to play with playdough and build a pineapple waterfall with grandma. Kate, like many youngsters her age, has a special fascination with fountains and flowing water of almost every kind. That’s what makes the neighborhood splash pad so much fun.
And Kate can find water to splash in almost anywhere.
If there is water, she is usually able to find a few rocks nearby to toss in as well. She and I spend quite a bit of time throwing rocks. My job is to gather them up and keep her pockets full. Her job is to make as big a splash as possible.
But back to the waterfall. I had no idea what a pineapple waterfall was, so, doing the best I could to decode her meaning, I went to the refrigerator and pulled out a pineapple and let her help me cut it the flesh into chunks for a snack. This satisfied her for a few minutes, and then we got out the playdough and I thought the matter was closed. Not so. Once the playdough was cleaned up, she went to my cupboard and peered inside, telling me she needed bowls–big bowls and small bowls. Then it clicked. I remembered standing in front of a fountain at a wedding reception with her just the night before while she talked about big bowls and little bowls and pineapple. I had been keeping an eye on her so she wouldn’t get wet. I had seen only a fountain. She had seen the details I had missed–big bowls and little bowls and a pineapple.
So with the above “pineapple waterfall” as inspiration (the pineapple, in case you missed it, is at the top), we set out to build our own kid-friendly waterfall:
Construction is simple. All you need are big bowls and little bowls, just like Kate had explained. I stacked pint-sized mason jars in between the layers, but a more kid-friendly option (and also less likely to get broken) would be a tin can or any other support strong enough to hold a bowl full of water. Next, we added a running hose, and Voila, a pineapple waterfall. Kate didn’t seem too concerned about the missing pineapple, but she did spend nearly thirty minutes playing with her invention.
Some tips for you if you are going to build your own waterfall:
- Opt for non-breakable supplies. The waterfall is pretty stable, provided that you’ve used a good sturdy base for each bowl to rest on, but if it gets bumped, you don’t want broken dishes.
- If you can find a totally level surface to stack your bowls on, your waterfall will be more likely to spill over the edges on all sides, rather than just on the downward slope like ours did.
- You don’t need to stop at three levels, but this was the perfect height for us.
- It’s easiest to stack your waterfall on a sturdy, level surface like a sidewalk or driveway, but if you don’t want to waste a lot of water, consider building your fountain in the center of a patch of lawn or in some other area that needs water.
