Pool Play Area Instructions
Supplies Needed:
4’ child’s wading pool, the stiffer plastic ones work best
sheet of Luaun wood or very thin plywood
1X2 boards, untreated wood
5/8" wooden dowels
pieces of plastic door guard
6’ section of 24" tall 1X2 welded wire
packages of natural leather lace
yard stick or slat
8’ screen molding
10’ of indoor outdoor carpet if it is 6’ wide, 5’ if it is 12’ wide
pop rivets and washers
short wood screws (some #4 for dowels and #6 for attaching supports)
hot glue
In order to utilize all your wood and not have to go buy more, be careful how you lay everything out,
don’t waste space on your wood. Circles take up a lot of wood and a lot will be left over, if you mark it
out properly.
First of all, we will start drilling the holes in our "compass" yardstick. Make your holes big enough for a
pen to fit through that will mark on your wood and your carpet backing.
Drills holes at the following measurements on your yard stick: At 1" and mark it with a "P", at 21" and
mark it with an "A", at 21 ¾" and mark it with a "B", at 25 ½" and mark it with a "C", at 30 ¼" and mark it
with a "D", and finally, at 31" and mark it with an "E". Use this yardstick as a compass to draw your
circles. Anchor the compass with a screw in the hole marked P for pivot hole. Use holes A and E to
draw your racetrack on the wood. Draw it in two halves and make them nest one end inside the other
half circle to utilize the wood. You should have enough wood left on the other end to cut a section 8"
wide and 28" long for the ramp. Sand all your rough edges.
Attach your two half circles in the shape of a circle to the pool lip using pop rivets and washers on the
pool side to prevent tearing of the plastic. 1/8", 3mm pop rivets work well (with pop rivet washers of the
same size).
Cut 4 pieces of 1X2 a length of 34" for the race track supports. Attach these supports using the #6
screws to the underneath of the racetrack, spanning pool edge to pool edge just inside the inner edge
of the racetrack. (see diagram). Supports should transfer the weight from the inside edge (weakest
point) to the pool lip (strongest point).
Cut at least 34 dowels at 3" long. You may want to cut a few extras in case you mess up some of them
while drilling the holes. In the bottom of every one of them drill a hole just smaller than a #4 screw so
the screws can be inserted without splitting the dowels. Also, drill a larger hole about ¼" from the top of
the dowel through the sides of the dowels to run your leather through. Make sure you drill the hole with
a large enough diameter to fit your leather lace though! Now that the dowels are ready, you will want to
mark the spots on the racetrack inner edge to place the dowels (set dowels on there to get your
approximate distance from the edge) and drill the small holes there also. Mine are spaced
approximately 4" apart. Mark with a pencil first to make sure you will end up evenly on each side of the
8" gap you will leave open for the attachment of the ramp. (holes do not need to be drilled here) Start
your #4 screws from the bottom of the racetrack until it comes through to the top then seat the dowel
on your pre-drilled hole and tighten the screw until the dowel does not spin. Do not over tighten or you
will strip your dowel out and have to get another one. Tie a knot in one end of your leather lace and
run it all the way around, through every dowel, until you reach the end on the other side of the ramp
gap. Tie a knot here as well. Your other package of lace is for making toys which I will let you design
any way that you way to, to hang from the race track down in to the pool. Make your toys and hang
them either through holes drilled in the edge of the racetrack or around the dowels.
Cut 13 pieces of the screen molding at a length of 8". Starting at the bottom, measure every two inches
for placing the steps, (screen molding) Hot glue the steps on.
Cut three sections of the welded wire into 62" long and 6" high except for the anchor stubs, which you
will need to leave another 2" section to insert through the outside edge of the racetrack. Leave anchor
stubs about every 10" apart. Have someone help you hold the wire on the racetrack and mark where to
drill the holes to run the stubs through. Attach the wire sections and bend the stubs under the bottom
or the racetrack. Attach the door edge to the top of the wire to prevent cuts and add to the
attractiveness of the finished pool.
Okay, to cut the carpet, flip it over to mark on the backing. Anchor your compass with a screw the pivot
hole. For the pool bottom, draw a complete circle using the hole marked as C. (A fine tipped sharpie
works great for marking the carpet) Cut the circle out with good quality scissors like the ones intended
for wallpaper. To cut the carpet for your racetrack, draw two complete circles, using holes marked B
and D. Unfortunately, the circle left from cutting out the racetrack is too small for the pool bottom but
can be used for other purposed like lining show carriers. Place the carpet in the pool and on the
racetrack without gluing so it can be removed for washing. That is why you purchase the good
indoor/outdoor carpet so it can be washed again and again. Before letting the pigs play on the carpet, I
would lay it out in the sun for a day or so to make sure there are no fumes left in it that could harm
them.
Cut the small pieces of carpet to fit in between your steps on the ramp and hot glue them on. Looks
cool doesn’t it? The last step is to glue your ramp on. I placed a left over piece of my 1X2 under the
racetrack where I wanted to attach the ramp and screwed it to the track and then screwed and hot
glued the ramp to the 1X2. If you are really good with a saw, you can cut your piece of wood at a slant
so the ramp attaches easily. Good luck with this. I found this to be the hardest part of making the pool
play area.
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Copyright © 1999
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