DIY Sunday: Children's Talk Tube

Hello There!

I've been on a roll reusing various junk I have found on our property. Last post I spoke about an old satellite dish that found a second life as a bird bath and lamp post. This week's post is about some extra sump pump tubing my children found in the garage.

We already have quite a bit of tubing for our elaborate pump. I was just going to let the tubing sit on a hook, for, well ever, until my children took it out of the bag one day. Just as I was going to enter into "mom mode" about playing with stuff in the garage, they realized if they talked into one end, the other person could hear it. The tube entertained them for hours as my husband and I worked on the yard. I was almost tempted to give them a saw if it lead to a couple of hours of fight free play. But then I remembered Parenting 101 and child abuse statutes and decided to stick with nonlethal play things.

The tube continued to be popular every evening as we played in the yard. One night they were playing with it and running it over bricks. Basically they were tearing the heck out of it. I decided it was way too popular to let it get ruined. So using a couple of supplies from the plumbing section of our hardware store, the talk tube became a permanent mainstay on our secret path. (Check out our DIY painted stones & secret path here)

DIY Children's Talk Tube 

Supplies:

Sump Pump Tubing
Plumbing Hanging Wire
Plumbing Bracket
Optional: Duct Tape & Screen

Approximate Cost: $5.00-$10.00

Directions:

1. Tape Off Ends

It's optional, but I decided to cover up each end with some screen and duct tape. I wasn't sure if it would be a popular place for a bee or wasp to create a nest, but I didn't want to take any chances. Each end got a piece of screen with some fun duct tape to attach it.

2. Hang Tubing

We put our tube through the "v" in trees. To ensure it stayed in place, I attached the tube to the trees using screws and the plumbing hanging strips. On each end, I placed the tube at just the right height for children to reach and secured with a bracket.

This idea isn't restricted to trees though. You could easily attach to a playground, play house, shed or swing set. If you don't want a permanent fixture, you could hang it with string or tape it. Now we have a really fun "telephone" from one end of our secret path to the other. I can't imagine what kind of conversations will be had as our children grow!