How can I reuse or recycle a children’s paddling pool?

paddling poolWe’ve had an email from Amy, asking:

I have a large kiddie pool with a crack in the bottom that is not repairable. How can I recycle this?

She doesn’t say whether it’s an inflatable one (which are the most common type in the UK) or a more solid one – the “crack” suggests the latter – so feel free to make suggestions for either.

(We’ve covered smaller inflatables before and in a similar water-holding-thing-no-longer-holding-water, we covered fish tanks last week.)

(Photo by ssdg4773)

Related Categories

garden, household, items, toys

Search for other related items



6 Responses to “How can I reuse or recycle a children’s paddling pool?”


  1. Just Staci says:

    A cracked kiddie pool can make a great sandbox!
    Also a new litter of puppies(which I used for my chihuahuas).Just change newspaper several times a day,plus you can hose out for extreme messes.

  2. Kim says:

    How about a raised garden? Just make more holes in the bottom before filling with soil.

  3. Lupa says:

    I used a hard plastic one that I dug out of someone’s trash for container gardening on our porch–it now has a growing family of strawberry plants taking it over!

  4. Leah says:

    depending on the size you can cut it into a single sheet and use as a dust cover for things in the garage or attic

  5. David Kerr says:

    Could you not make the inflatable family sized paddling pool into a rather fetching skirt and line it with five layers of semi-translucent mat-finish pvc sheeting also if you can find another family sized paddling pool you can make a top which should also be lined with the smae material as the lining of the skirt and sewing the skirt and top together to make a very nice dress that will keep you dry and also mean that you can sid down on wet park benches without a care in the world.

  6. Sarah says:

    If you can’t find a reuse that works for you, or the time to implement it, how about donate to a animal shelter? I heard they use them for the dogs to cool off and play in.



Leave a Reply

Your name
Your email (it will not be published. If you want people to contact you, leave your email address in the message too.)
Your website (if you've got one)