How to build a water table.

My son is always making messes in the bathroom sink. The kid literally goes for the water everyday. I decided it was time for a water table. Both of our boys are having birthdays soon, so we thought it would be a great joint gift. Water tables run anywhere from 30 dollars to 100's of dollars for big fancy ones. I looked online and it seemed I could do it myself. So I did.

Go to your favorite lumber type store. And get the following:
1) All purpose square or rectangle tub with lips around the edges. *
2) 2x4 8feet to 10 feet long
3) 2x6 8feet to 10 feet long

* Word of caution. Make sure your tub is not very deep. This will discourage the kids from climbing in and such. My tub is 6 inches deep with fits perfect with the 2x6 wood. Also never leave kids unattended when playing with water.

The tube should tell you how big it is. For example, mine said 26x20. So i cut the long pieces 26" and then measured for the short side pieces. For the legs, just figure out how tall you want the table. I measured chest high on my smallest kid. It was 21 inches. So that is how tall I made my table. The just screw the legs to the sides of the table. Viola!

There is no bottom to the table. The four sides make a frame and the tub just sits in it. You can easily remove the tub for cleaning. If you really wanted to you could drill through the plastic tub and screw it in place on the table. We are planning to paint this to seal it. You could also use a varnish sealant if you had nice looking natural wood.

Costs: I spent 7.50 on the tub, 3.50 on the wood 2x6 and had free 2x4's from a salvaged pallet.