Kiddie (or doggie!) pools

[LadySusan]

I'm looking for something to entertain 2-4 little kids.  Does anyone have experience in this area?  My generous father just gifted us a 4 x 8 inflatable pool but I can't imagine draining that monster every few days and the West Coast has drought problems so...

Would a 4-ft circular pool work or should I get something bigger?  Is rigid plastic a lot better than inflatable?

Does anyone have a fancy pool with a fountain or waterfall?

Are there decent covers to keep crap out and stretch the time between refills?

Thanks!

[karinothing]

We have this one, but I don't think I would use it if you are in a drought since well it has constant water flow. It is also more for water play vs. swimming (this store was out of any other pools, so I got what I got lol.They make pretty decent size hard plastic ones, they are the easiest to set up IMO. How old are the kids? I think the size you listed is likely fine if they are younger. THe hard plastic would also be easier to cover IMO, although I have no covers to recommend, sorry.


 

[mrspez07]

Honestly, I've found with the way the kids play in our hard sided cheap one from Ace, that there is so much grass and bugs in it after one session that it's not really simple to keep stuff out of it. Also, it's typically recommended around little kids to not leave access to pools of water, so if you've got littles, you would either need to drain after each use or not allow access to the yard when pool is not to be used.

When we drain ours we break out the watering can and water with the pool water before completely dumping.

[mrs.jacinthe]

4x8 seems like the size pool that should have a filter and not need drained, just occasionally refilled. If it doesn't have a filter, I bet you can buy one. If you can't find a cover for it specifically, you could probably find a 10x10 tarp that would work.

That said, honestly, if you have a local rec pool or splash park, I'd do that in the drought versus fill my own and maintain it.

[Susie]

My dogs' toenails would probably pop an inflatable pool, so they have a rigid plastic one that they love.



Pros:  reasonably durable.  Cheap.  Easy to clean; no cracks/crevices for grime to get into.

Cons:  PITA to store in the garage.  We hang it on a wall from a nail/peg.  You could probably use less water by running the sprinkler for the amount of time they want to play in it and scrapping the pool.

By the time they're done for the day, the water is pretty gross with grass and dog hair (peculiar to them, I suppose), so I wouldn't want to try to re-use the water from one day to the next.  Standing water (if you aren't playing in it every day) also makes me nervous about encouraging mosquitoes.  In a drought scenario I'd just take a human child to the town pool complex and the dogs would have to wait for a chance to swim in a lake.

[LadySusan]

Thanks.  I returned the big pool at Walmart and they were totally out of pools except for the dino spray fountain one.

Our neighbors just gifted us this sandbox when they moved so I'm going to try to scrub it out and use it as a little pool.  The kids are in swim lessons at the local rec center but those are in the morning and sometimes during the hottest time of the day which is 4-6pm here it's really nice to drench the kids.