Tin Foil River - Backyard Water Play

Foil River

This is a super simple, low-prep activity that our children (ages 5, 8 & 9) loved. They worked on the foil river for quite a while, and then once that was set, they spent a good amount of time floating and racing things down the river.

Will the lego guy make it to the end of the river?

Supplies:

• foil (we used 2 dollar-store boxes)

• running water

• floating objects (we used lego guys, pom-poms, plastic beads, whiffle balls, and our youngest (5) tried a bunch of objects in sink-or-float experiments)

• platters/buckets/etc. to make pools

What to do:

Hand your children the foil and CHALLENGE them to create a river from one end of the yard to the other. They’re going to look at you sideways. Just hand it to them and see what they do…

Seriously, this was SO easy. I did show them how to shape the foil to hold water, how to join foil by folding 2 pieces together, and we did talk about flowing water and gravity… but that was all I did! The rest was all them, and I was free to take pictures and be the river racing judge!

Here are way too many pictures, but you can see the determination and teamwork unfolding!

Creating a foil river checks so many boxes: simple supplies, no-prep, STEM, water play, sensory activity, teamwork, problem solving, and FUN...

So, do you think your children would like this activity? What are you waiting for? Go grab that foil ;)