You Can Make This Super Fun Water Blob! – Using an Iron To Seal The Edges

Many years ago there was a post on this blog that kinda went crazy. Overnight it went viral and The Water Blob was born.  Now over a hundred thousand people have searched this blog for “how to make a water blob”.  But the first water blob used duct tape to seal the edges and was prone to leaks. So now it’s time to update it to show you how to make a leakproof water blob using an iron to seal the edges.  You might have seen this photo on Pinterest or other places online.  Yup, it’s the one that started it all. My girls were so little in that picture.  Since then many people have made the Water Blob but a blog named Homemade Toast was the smartest one that figured out a way to iron the sides of the Water Blob to make it leak proof and stronger.  The original water blob (found here) used duct tape to seal the sides of the plastic. Since it’s summer we decided to do another water blob but this time to try out the iron method of sealing the sides.  If you want to know how to use duct tape to seal the sides, check out the original post for The Water Blob.  If you want to know how to iron the sides to seal the Water Blob here’s instructions to help you: You’ll need an iron, an ironing board or a towel to protect your surface, 4mil thick plastic sheeting, duct tape and parchment paper.  The plastic sheeting can be found in the painting section of a big box store (here is a similar brand but double the cost that I paid) . I grabbed a size that was 10′ by 25′. It seems huge but you’re going to fold it in half so the size of the finished Water Blob is actually half the size of the plastic sheeting that you buy. You do need 3.5 mil thick at least. If you buy a thin painters drop cloth, it will rip quickly.  Open up the plastic sheeting and fold it over once. You should now have three open sides and one folded side. Begin on the one of the sides to slowly iron the plastic shut in sections. Take your parchment paper and fold it in half. Then fold it in half again. This will give you a smaller width to work with and keep the plastic from getting too hot.  Once you’ve folded it twice you’ll have a fold down the middle. Slide the plastic edges into this fold and make sure the edges are lined up against the very edge of the fold. You should now have parchment paper under and on top of the plastic. The parchment paper is there as a barrier to prevent plastic from sticking to your iron and also to give you a good guide. Irons vary greatly. If you have an iron for sewing than it will get hotter than a normal iron from the store. I set my iron to the cotton setting but you will have to test yours to find the correct setting.  Once your iron is hot, slowly slide the iron over the paper to heat up the plastic inside of it.  You need to iron at least two inches of the edge to get a tight seal.  Carefully remove the plastic from the paper and check the seal.  It will appear wrinkly and you should not be able to pull the pieces apart.  Now slide the paper over to the next section and continue doing that all the way around the three open sides until they are sealed. Don’t forget to leave a small hole for the hose to fill up the water blob. Use duct tape to close off the hole once the Water Blob is full. If you want a really blue water blob than you can add some gel food color to the inside as you fill it up with the hose.  It will take approximately 20 minutes to fill if you do a larger size Water Blob.  In the end hopefully, you’ll have a really fun Water Blob to jump and play on for a few hours. So was this really leak proof? Not exactly. But we only had two leaks using this method which were quickly fixed with duct tape. It did take longer than the duct tape method but there were a lot less leaks.  If you want to make this than I suggest using more than one person to help iron the edges closed. You could easily spread this out on the driveway to use an iron on an extension cord to get it done faster.  Here’s some tips and tricks for the Water Blob:

• Do not fill it with little toys or foam pieces. It sounds great but if you’ve ever stepped on a tiny lego than you know how badly the tiniest piece of material can hurt your feet. 
• You must use a flat surface. Even the tiniest hill can cause the water to pool on one side.
• Add water on top of the water blob to make it a giant slip and slide. 
• Lay on it to read when the kids take their naps. The water inside stays cool for a really long time.
• Recycle the plastic or cut it open, let it dry and then store the plastic in your garage to use again or to use in the yard at a later date.
• You can place a hose inside and duct tape it onto the water blob to help disperse water over your yard when your kids are done playing. 

If you want to save this idea for later, pin it to Pinterest!  And if you want to add another layer of fun to the Water Blob, make sponge water bombs for the ultimate water fight.