Waterpark in My Yard with Homemade Water Slide

Summer in south Alabama is incredibly hot with the heat index rising to as high as 114 degrees. Sticky. Sweaty. Yuck. So when I wanted to cool my kids off for the weekend, I created a waterpark in my yard for the neighborhood kids and included an epic homemade water slide.

Building a water slide is easier than you think. And, despite the long list of supplies, a DIY water park is cheaper than you think. The largest expenses are the plastic sheeting, tarps, and garden hoses. If you already have those items, the majority of your expense is gone.

Related: Want to go to a real waterpark? Check out my Gulf Islands Waterpark review.

Homemade Water Slide

In just a couple of hours, I had constructed this epic water slide with a PVC water sprinkler as part one of our DIY waterpark.

PVC Water Sprinkler

To make water constantly flow down the homemade water slide, I constructed a sprinkler tall enough for the children to walk under. (See my water sprinkler inspiration.)

You will need:

• 3 – 10 foot lengths 3/4 inch PVC
• 3 – 3/4 inch end caps
• 1 – 3/4 inch PVC Drip Irrigation Female Adapter
• 2 – 3/4 inch 90-Degree PVC Slip Elbow
• 2 – 3/4 inch tee connections 
• PVC Primer and Cement 
• Electric drill with thin drill bit
• PVC cutter

I used 1/2 inch PVC but everything listed is 3/4 inch since my pipe bowed from the pressure of the water going through the pipes.

To make the PVC sprinkler:

1. Cut one length of PVC into four equal pieces. These are the “feet” of the sprinkler.
2. Cut another length of PVC into two equal pieces. These are the slides of the sprinkler.
3. Drill holes in a line down the length of the remaining PVC pipe.
4. Prime the ends of each piece of PVC pipe.
5. Using the PVC cement, attach the PVC joints as noted on the diagram above.
6. Allow to dry and then attach the hose. Have fun!

Homemade Water Slide with Pool

• 6 mil (10 feet x 25 feet) plastic sheeting
• 2 – 8 feet x 10 feet tarps
• 25-Pack 4 inch steel landscape fabric pins
• 3 – 1 inch x 6 inch x 8 feet plank
• 2 – 6 inch corner brace
• 1 pack 11.75-in wood landscape stakes
• 1.75 inch flat head screws
• 6 pool noodles
• utility knife
• wood mallet or hammer
• tear-free baby shampoo or baby wash

Why baby shampoo? Adding suds to the slide makes it super slippery and fun. Just use a tear-free soap to keep little eyes happy.

Putting the slide together is easy.

1. Find a slope for your slide. Place a rug or padding over any roots or rocky areas to avoid injuries.
2. Lay tarps down on a slope, allowing them to overlap slightly.
3. Secure to the ground using landscape fabric pins or tent stakes. Make sure to flatten the pins completely so children so not trip.
4. Screw the landscape stakes to the wood planks at about every foot.
5. Create a u-shape with the wood planks and attach corner braces.
6. Position the wood U at the bottom of the slope where you placed the tarps. Hammer the stakes down into the ground.
7. Unfold the plastic sheeting and lay over the tarps, down the hill, and overlapping the wood U.
8. Carefully slice each pool noodle length-wise and push the pool noodles over the wood to hold the plastic sheeting in place.

DIY Waterpark

A homemade water slide is awesome, but I wanted more.

To have multiple water play areas in your yard together, you will also need two separate hoses and a dual outlet.

Water Sprinkler Kid Wash

• 1 – 10 foot length 3/4 inch PVC
• 90-Degree PVC Side Outlet Elbow
• 2 – 3/4 inch end caps
• 2 – 3/4 inch 90-Degree PVC Slip Elbow
• 1 – 3/4-in PVC Drip Irrigation Female Adapter
• PVC Primer and Cement 
• PVC cutter
• Electric drill with thin drill bit

(See my PVC kid sprinkler inspiration.)

To make the PVC kid wash sprinkler:

1. Cut one length of PVC into two equal pieces. One of these pieces is the “back” of the sprinkler.
2. Cut one half of PVC into four equal pieces. These are the arms of the sprinkler.
3. Drill holes in a line down the length of the four short arms of PVC pipe.
4. Prime the ends of each piece of PVC pipe.
5. Using the PVC cement, attach the PVC joints as noted on the diagram above.
6. Allow to dry and then attach the hose. Have fun!

Water Battle Stations

And because no one should stay dry for long at a waterpark, I set up battle stations so the kids could be wet… and a little wild.

1. Water gun refill station – A five gallon bucket filled with water, water blasters (from the dollar store), and water guns.
2. Water balloons – If you have been wondering about the water balloon filling system you have seen on television, YES! It really works.
3. Sponge balls – These are super simple to make. Just cut sponges length-wise and gather several together, tying yarn tightly in the middle, and positioning the sponges into a ball.
4. Foam snakes – Super simple and very frugal! Just cut off the bottom of a water bottle and cover the cut end with an old sock. Secure with a rubber band. Then, fill a bowl with soapy water. Dip the sock-end of the water bottle in the water and blow!

Waterpark Questions

My friends who watched me create the water slide and waterpark asked several questions.

Will the homemade water slide kill your grass?

If you leave anything on one spot on your lawn, it will certainly kill the grass. I left the water slide in place for six days. When I pulled everything up, the grass was yellowing but not dead and the color recovered quickly. You cannot even tell it was there.

How do you keep the pool noodles attached the water slide?

I didn’t and yes, the pool noodles would float and pop off. We would just put them back on. You could drive a screw through the pool noodles into the wood but them you will puncture the plastic sheeting, and I wanted to be able to reuse the sheeting (since it is kind of expensive.)