Parents are always looking for ways to keep their kids happy and entertained during the summer. This easily customizable pool noodle obstacle course is perfect for a kid’s play date, party or a family time in the yard. You can find pool noodles just about anywhere (I got loads of them at the dollar store), so pick some up and get started; you won’t believe just how easy it is. Note: The amount of each material we used is listed, but you can scale your course down to use less items with the same ratio of ingredients. duct tape (3 rolls) Note: You will need both straight, unaltered pool noodles and pool noodles bent into a circle and taped together. The circular pool noodle is easy to make; just bend the pool noodle until both ends come together and secure them together with duct tape. Stage 1: Ground Crawling: Stick a yard stake in the ground and push 1 end of a pool noodle on it (pool noodles have a hollow middle with holes at both ends). Bend your pool noodle over to make a semi circle and push another yard stake in the ground where the pool noodle ends.

Push the other end of the noodle on the stake. Repeat this process until you have the desired number of arcs, placing each pool noodle about 1 foot apart from the next. Stage 2: Agility Rings: Place 1 straight pool noodle horizontally on the ground. Going upwards, put 10 circular pool noodles on the ground, 2 at a time. At the end, place another straight pool noodle. The object of this part is to bounce from ring to ring without disturbing them! Stage 3: Football Toss: Place 1 yard stake in the ground. Push a straight pool noodle onto the yard stake. Grab 2 pool noodle rings and tape them to the top of the straight pool noodle with 1 underneath the other. Repeat with 4 more circular pool noodles. Where the circular pool noodles end, place another yard stake in the ground and push a straight pool noodle onto the yard stake. Tape the circular noodles onto the straight noodle. If you’re having difficulty keeping this obstacle straight, you can also push long sticks into the ground for reinforcement.

Tape the sticks to the long and straight pool noodles. Stage 4: Soccer Skills: Stick some yard stakes in the ground in a straight row, each stake about 1 foot apart. Push a pool noodle onto each stake so they are sticking straight up in the air. Leave some soccer balls at this obstacle and watch the kids try to kick/dribble the ball around the noodles. Stage 5: Ring Toss: Push a yard stake into the ground and push a pool noodle onto the yard stake so the pool noodle is standing straight up in the air. Have your kids try and throw a pool noodle ring onto the pole. This is sure to make you the talk of the neighborhood kids! For an extra challenge, time yourselves! I believe protecting your family from harmful chemicals doesn't have to be overwhelming. Anyone can do it, one small step at a time. Are you ready to take charge of your family's health? These are a few of my most popular posts Homemade Non-Toxic Deodorant That Actually Works!The Beginner’s Guide to Making Non-Toxic Household CleanersHow to Wash Grapes the Right WayThis Homemade Floor Cleaner Doubles as the BEST All-Purpose Cleaner!

How to Make a Non-Toxic Scouring Powder With 2 Simple Ingredients Where to buy Non-Toxic Products and Ingredientsbest way to clean carpet stains yourself Get my latest non-toxic posts on the Nature’s Nurture mobile app!carpet cleaning equipment new zealand User-Friendly FormatAdvanced SearchOffline CapabilitiesSave Favoritescarpet cleaning machines sale perth If you do not have a built-in pool at home, an inflatable pool can be a fun and safe alternative for your children on hot summer days. carpet cleaning prices worcesterUnfortunately, these types of pools have to be inflated quite often, a task that can be time consuming. best way to clean white tile grout

While using an air compressor is perhaps the easiest method for inflating a pool, several alternative devices can be used that do not require you to use your lungs. pool parties las vegas halloweenDetermine which device you will use to inflate the children's pool. A vacuum cleaner with an exhaust or a reverse switch is the closest alternative to an air compressor although a leaf blower works as well. If you do not have either of these devices, you can use a bicycle pump or other manual pump to inflate the pool.Attach an air funnel to the hose of the vacuum cleaner or bicycle pump, or to the end of the leaf blower. An air funnel can be made out of a plastic funnel or cone and should funnel air into a small circular area to get it into the pool. Many inflatable pools come with custom air funnels that can be attached to a variety of inflation devices. Wrap the overlapping area of the hose and the funnel with duct tape.

A snug fit between the funnel and the hose of the vacuum cleaner, bicycle pump or leaf blower ensures high air pressure, preventing air from escaping the funnel.Insert the end of the funnel into the inflation hole of the children's pool. This hole is usually covered by a plastic plug that must be removed before inserting the air funnel. You may need to use more duct tape to secure this connection if the fit is not snug.Turn on the vacuum cleaner or leaf blower, or pump the bicycle pump. As soon as the pool is inflated to an acceptable pressure, turn off the vacuum cleaner or leaf blower, or stop pumping.Plug the pool's air inflation hole.Thank you for visiting Little House in the Suburbs. If you like what you see, please SUBSCRIBE.My homemade laundry detergent recipe completely changed after hours of research on this household chemical database!Powder is washing soda.  Liquid detergents have borax, usually with alcohol.  My guess is that washing soda loses its poop over time in water and borax doesn’t.

This may also be why powder detergents are supposed to be more effective than liquid.  Borax only lets the cleaning pH go up so far.  Borax is most effective in hotter water, so since most people wash in cold these days, it’s not useful enough to include in commercial detergent unless it’s pre-dissolved in a liquid? Conclusion:  Borax is fine, but if you’re having trouble getting things CLEAN (which is not the same as WHITE), replacing borax with washing soda will make your dry homemade laundry detergent more powerful.  If you want to make liquid detergent, washing soda may not be a good choice, however, I have no idea how that alcohol/borax thing works out.   Purex powder is almost 50% salt.  Seventh Generation uses a tiny amount in some of their liquids.  Salt *is* a water softener, but it’s WAY weaker than washing soda. Conclusion:  If it works for you, great.  But if you’re having problems getting things CLEAN, ditch the salt and put more washing soda in your homemade laundry detergent.

Not even Arm and Hammer.  Baking soda is only half as strong as washing soda for softening water and doesn’t allow the cleaning pH to go nearly as high.   And if you have a stronger product on hand, why dilute it with a weaker one? Conclusion: Like salt, and borax, if you’re having trouble getting something clean, eliminate the baking soda and replace with washing soda.  But if you’re washing delicates, tossing in a buffer like baking soda is a good idea! Grate up that Ivory (SUPER FINE so it dissolves well) or whatever you have around.  Pure tallow or lard soap has less cleaning power than anything made from coconut oil, but coconut oil is super bubbly.  Ivory is a split between the two.   Enzymes eat your protein stains. You can buy Biz or another enzyme cleaner and add it in, OR you *could* make your own.  These enzymes are from cultured bacteria from three places: Conclusion:  It’s hard to get out many stains without an enzyme cleaner.  (Old timers use meat tenderizer for protein enzymes.  

I don’t know how it would do IN your washer, but it would work just fine in a soak!) Oxiclean becomes peroxide and washing soda once it hits liquid.  Any liquid detergent claiming to contain Oxiclean likely has peroxide in it. You can make your own Oxiclean POWDER by mixing peroxide and washing soda and dehydrating it, but there’s really no point.  It’s easier to just dump peroxide in your bleach compartment or make a solution of half peroxide half washing soda for immediate use on stains. (Home liquid versions lose their poop ~month.) Probably more frugal is a scoop of Dollar store Oxiclean.  Borax has been touted as an oxygen bleach, but it’s weak and doesn’t work in cold water at all. You can just put ½ cup in your rinse compartment, but it you have really hard water and a top loader, it might not be enough vinegar to make a dent. My water hardness is about 17.5ppm.  For my 40 gal top loader, I need 2 cups of store bought vinegar to do the job. As you add more acid to the mix, and decrease the possibility of deposits, you are neutralizing the washing soda.   

To use it with washing soda, you have to overwhelm the citric acid with washing soda to make sure there’s enough left to do it’s high pH cleaning thing.   In Tide Tablets, it’s at least a 4 parts washing soda to 1 part citric acid.  And, I’m not entirely sure that it’s not just there to make the tablets hard.  Citric acid makes great tablets. Conclusion:  Don’t put it in your homemade laundry detergent unless you have REALLY bad deposits that have to stay suspended the whole time; use the rinse compartment instead. Most whiteness is an ILLUSION.  There’s two fancy chemical families in most commercial detergents that trick your eyes into seeing WHITE.  They boil down to BLUING and FLUORESCING. For my homemade laundry detergent, I use half washing soda and half grated Ivory or homemade lard/coconut oil soap…The older your soap (even Ivory), the more brittle and easy to grind. 3T in the washer, 1 cup vinegar in the rinse. For lights and whites, I use hot water and 1/2 cup peroxide in the bleach compartment, unless I have the presence of mind to remember the Dollar Store Oxiclean.