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)

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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.



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