With summer coming up, it is time to get out the pool toys and uncover the pool. This year, your kids are asking for a slide that they can use for when they go swimming. So you decided to head here to find some information.

Inflatable pool slides are great for kids because they are safe. These slides are not big enough for a kid to fall off of them and they also do not contain any shape edges. When inflated, they are very easy to use and they provide you with fun for the entire summer.

There are many different types of inflatable slides that you can choose from and it all depends on what it is that you want. For instance, you can find a slide that is made for a few kids at once. These slides will be more durable and will last much longer. Some of them will even hold an adult so you can slide down along side of them or with them.

Another type of slide that people like are those that are much smaller and safer. These slides are great for younger kids and do not need any maintenance. They are usually hooked up to garden hose so that the water can easily be dispersed amongst the slide.

So depending on what you are looking for, you have a wide range of online sites that will help you find what you need. Take the time to browse around and see what exactly will fit your kids safety level.

Free places for children are being added to Easter and this year’s extended Jubilee half-term, so you could save hundreds of pounds by taking your main break earlier.

Families locked into travelling during school holidays can dramatically ­reduce their bills by shopping around for free children’s places.
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These deals will help stretch your budget during the busiest weeks of summer when tour operators often add as much as 50 per cent to the price of package holidays.

Free places usually apply to just one child in the family although some tour operators offer further discounts for siblings. Such is the competition ­between holiday firms this year that some are dangling freebies for ALL the kids… and even grandparents.

But act quickly because the best offers are snapped up early and are rarely ­repeated later in the season.

EASTER

BIDEFORD BAY, DEVON: Pool ­kayaking, giant inflatable balls that kids climb inside to walk across the pool, sea scooters and water sessions for tots are just a few of the free activities on offer at Bideford Bay. On dry land there are cheer-leading courses, dance classes, plus track and field sports. After dark there’s a bar, ­restaurant and cabaret shows.

THE DEAL: Free kids’ places take the cost of a seven-night self-­catering ­holiday at Easter, starting April 9,to £294 per family (se www.park-resorts.com).

CHALET L’OURS BLANC, MONT­GENEVRE: Cut the price of a ski holiday by taking advantage of free kids’ deals from Zenith Holidays. Stay at the Chalet L’Ours Blanc near the border between France and Italy in Montgenèvre. It’s one of the ­highest resorts in the Alps so you’re likely to have good snow late in the season.

THE DEAL: Free children’s places save £385. A half-board ­holiday for two adults and one child costs £770 ­including Eurotunnel crossings (www.zenithholidays.co.uk call 01737 852 242).

JUBILEE HALF-TERM (EARLY JUNE)

IBEROSTAR CLUB CALA ­BARCA, MAJORCA: A toy ­library and 10kg free baby ­luggage ­allowance cut down on excess baggage when you take the kids to the four-star Iberostar Club Cala Barca with Thomas Cook. Rooms in this family-friendly resort also have ­microwaves and fridges so you can heat up bottles and baby food. A free kids’ evening club gives parents time for a quiet drink.

THE DEAL: Thomas Cook’s FamilyWorld offers a free kid’s place when two adults book a week’s all-inclusive at the Iberostar Club Cala Barca near Cala d’Or. The price of £1,630 includes flights from Newcastle on June 3 (www.thomascook.com, 0844 412 5970).

CHATEAU DES ORMES, BRITTANY: Swimming and cycling lessons, arts and crafts and other clubbie activities give mums and dads plenty of time to relax at this country park. The kids’ clubs are free for children aged six months to 12 years. Cots, decking gates, bed rails and high chairs are also ­included. For grown-ups, Keycamp’s Chateau des Ormes has an 18-hole golf course, tennis and a gym to work off the Breton crepes. Take the kids to ­medieval Mont St Michel or shop in the pretty town of Dinan.

THE DEAL: Up to four kids travel free with two adults paying full price, so a two-bedroom Villanova mobile home, including return Dover-to-Calais ferry crossings, costs £589 (www.keycamp.co.uk call 0844 406 0319).

SEMIRAMIS VILLAGE HOTEL, CRETE: Celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee by taking the family to Hersonissos in Crete. Stay at the Seriramis Village Hotel with sweeping views of ­mountains and sea, a gym, swimming pool, plus billiards, darts and table tennis. A local bus will take you to several small coves along the northern coast.

THE DEAL: Olympic Holidays offer two free places for children aged two to 11 on 80 per cent of their holidays to Greece. The cost of seven nights’ half-board for four, including flights from Gatwick on June 1, is a total of £1,495 (www.OlympicHolidays.com call 0844 576 2386).

HOTEL ATLANTICA PRINCESS, RHODES: An adventure playground, lagoon pool, football and beach volley ball keep kids diverted while you relax on a lounger. Atlantica Princess is a family-friendly hotel just a few metres from the beach. There are special child menus and cots and highchairs available at no extra cost.

THE DEAL: The free child place is available at intervals throughout the summer season. Adult prices for a week’s all-inclusive start at £429 ­including flights from Gatwick or Manchester late May (www.cosmos-holidays.co.uk).

ALL YEAR ROUND

POLURRIAN BAY HOTEL, ­CORNWALL: Grandad and Grandma stay free (room only), as well as the children, if you book a family deal to this Cornish hotel ­during the first three months of 2012. ­Otherwise, the free-kid offer runs throughout the year. The seaside hotel looks across Mounts Bay and has ­indoor and outdoor pools plus a spa for Mum. Even better, there’s a free Ofsted-registered creche and Blue Room club for over-eights.

THE DEAL: Kids under 12 stay free sharing their parents’ room. B&B costs £130 per room, per night. Kiddie breakfasts are free for under-twos, a fiver for kids aged two to seven and £7.50 for children aged eight-plus (www.polurrianhotel.com).

SUMMER HOLIDAYS

PARAISO ALBUFEIRA, ALGARVE: Snooze in the sun while the kids go wild in their own club. There’s a daily children’s entertainment programme and evening shows. Challenge the family to a game of mini-golf or whizz around in the slot cars. The resort has indoor and outdoor pools, you can hire bicycles and later unwind in the spa. Free Kidsworld sessions in the evening give Mum and Dad a night off and free 10kg infant luggage allowance helps with all the baby paraphernalia.

THE DEAL: One child travels free with two adults on a seven-night, all-inclusive stay at Airtours’ four-star Paraiso Albufeira. Flights from Gatwick on July 28 are ­included in the price, from £1,966 for a family of three (www.airtours.co.uk).

HOLIDAY VILLAGE, DALAMAN: Sign the kids up for the football academy, stage school or even a DJ workshop when you take advantage of free child places at Holiday Village, Turkey. The all-inclusive resort near Dalaman specialises in family breaks. There are two children’s pools, clubs covering ages from birth to 15 years, plus Shrek-themed clubrooms.

DINGLE HARBOUR COTTAGES, CO. KERRY: Four children aged up to 16 travel free when you take the family to Dingle Harbour Cottages with Irish Ferries ­Holidays. There are about 20 whitewashed cottages, rated four-star, built in terraces above Dingle’s natural harbour. Build sandcastles at Inch and Ventry beaches and take a boat trip to look for Fungithe friendly dolphin. For rainy days,there’s a leisure centre with indoor pool and 10-pin bowling.

THE DEAL: Free child places take the price of a week’s rental of a cottage ­sleeping six in August to £1,087, including ferry crossings from Holyhead to Dublin (about four hours drive to Dingle) or ­Pembroke to Rosslare (five hours to Dingle) for the car, two adults and four children under 16

DAISH’S HOLS, ENGLAND: All kids under six and a further child aged six-15 stay free at Daish’s Holidays seaside hotels. Pack their buckets and spades for a break at either the Barrowfield in Newquay, Sands Hotel in Bournemouth, Daish’s Hotel on the Isle of Wight or the Devonshire Hotel in Torquay. All have play areas and the Isle of Wight and Newquay properties have indoor pools.

THE DEAL: Kids bunk in with two full- ­paying adults in standard rooms. A four-night, half-board break at the end of July for a family of four will cost £408 without transport or £438 including

PARADISE BEACH RESORT, KOH SAMUI: Free accommodation for as many as three kids up to 16 years brings down the cost of a family holiday in Koh Samui, Thailand. Even better, the kids have their own room. The four-star resort is near Bophut and has a private beach, two freshwater pools, sailing and other watersports. There’s also a kids’ pool and play area. You can upgrade to all-inclusive for £26 per adult and £15 per kid per night.

Owning an inflatable pool can be a godsend, especially during the summer holidays. An inflatable pool can provide countless entertainment for the family. When the children are off school, keeping them entertained can sometimes be a struggle, but with an inflatable pool in your back garden, no longer will it be a difficult task.

Every August the children are at home from school for six weeks, and children can get bored very easily. By keeping them entertained for periods of time allows you the piece and quiet you need to get on with your daily life. Swimming is among one of the favourite activities that children love to do.

Great, you think! You’ll take them swimming for a few hours. It’ll keep them happy, and by the time you get home, they’ll be too tired to want to do anything else. Wrong! You feed them something they like and they’ll keep on wanting it. You take them to the local pool. You pay the admission fee required, and you let them have a wail of a time. They enjoy themselves so much and you’ll think to yourself that this is a great way to entertain your children. But when it’s time to go home, things change.

Your children won’t want to leave the pool. They’ve enjoyed themselves so much that they just want five minutes more, and five minutes leads to fifteen minutes, and so on and so forth. In the end you get frustrated and tell them that you’re never taking them swimming again. They’ll throw tantrums, but they’ll still ask you if they can go again the next day, and they day after that and the day after that. You’ll look in your purse and realise that it will be expensive to keep taking them, just to kill a few hours every day, and then you’ll start to feel bad.

You’re children really want to go swimming again, but you can’t afford to keep taking them, and plus you have jobs that need to be dealt with. What seemed like a good idea at the beginning is now turning into something you regret. What can you do?

There is a solution. By having your own inflatable pool in your back garden means that your children can go swimming everyday without you leaving the house and forgoing the jobs that need to be done. And it means that you don’t have to keep spending money. Your children can happily splash away their entire day, allowing you to do what you need to do, and then relax. What a godsend that inflatable pool is.

STUCK for something fun to do these school holidays or the kids are bored and have run out of entertaining things to do?

If so, look no further.

Here is a list of popular activities for children of all ages in Toowoomba.

Toowoomba is known as the Garden City for a reason, so why not go and spend some time out in the sunshine and explore some of the city’s beautiful parks, including Queens Park, Newtown Park and Picnic Point Park.

Or if parks are not your thing, why not pop down to the Milne Bay Aquatic Centre and take a dip in the pool this summer.

The Milne Bay Aquatic Centre, with its indoor 25m pool, outdoor 50m pool and tots pool, is open seven days a week, from 5.30am to 9pm Monday to Friday and from 7am to 7pm on weekends and public holidays.

The aquatic centre’s wave pool, inflatable and water slides are able to be used from noon to 4pm on school holidays, weekends and public holidays.

If you want to stay indoors these holidays, why not visit the Toowoomba City Library and join in the fun of their school holiday program for 2012.

The Summer Reading Club began this week for children aged 5 to 18 and there are some great prizes to be won.

For a program of what’s on, phone the Toowoomba City Library and ask to speak to the Young People’s Librarian, Liz.

You can also check out a bunch of online activities at Summer Reading Club.

There is also the chance to get creative this summer at a free Kids DIY workshop at Bunnings Warehouse Toowoomba West.

Throughout January, the store will host school holiday workshops encouraging children to be imaginative, make some new friends and take home something special made completely by themselves.

The classes will run every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday throughout January and will be equipped with everything needed for a fun day.

For more information about the classes, visit Bunnings.

For those who enjoy going to the movies, Arthur Christmas and Puss in Boots are showing at Event Cinemas Grand Central and The Strand, with The Adventures of Tintin and Happy Feet 2 to open on Boxing Day and The Muppets and Alvin and The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked in January.

An inflatable pool is one of the best things you can have in your back garden during the sizzling summer months. If you’re feeling hot and flustered, a quick dip in your inflatable pool is the best thing – or if you have children that need to be entertained. No child can resist the urge to jump in a pool.

But what about accessories? There are a range of accessories out there for your pool, to help keep it and your garden in good condition.

Breathable Groundsheets: These are placed under the pool, which separates the pool from your grass. It also allows the grass to breath, preventing it from dying completely is the pool is set up for a long period of time.

Swimming Pool Covers: A pool cover covers your pool when not in use, preventing debris such as grass and bugs from getting in. It also keeps the sun off the water for long periods of time, decrease the amount of algae build-up.

Solar Pool Covers: Unlike normal pool covers, solar covers are designed to sit on the water itself. It isn’t designed to protect the water from debris, and may not actually reach the edges of the pool. Instead it is designed to soak up the heat from the sun and transfer it to water. This takes the chill away. It won’t heat the water, but it’ll certainly make it a refreshing temperature, and if you experience a nice summer, then sometimes you may not need a pool heater. This way of retaining your water’s temperature is economical.

Solar Ground Sheet: Just like the solar cover, the ground sheet is designed to retain the heat from the sun and helps to keep the chill off the water.

Pool Heater: If the water is too cold and there isn’t much sun for your solar cover to work efficiently, then a pool heater is the next best thing. Again, these don’t heat the water, but helps to take the chill off, allowing you to continuing using it even on a chilly evening.

Filter Pumps: It’s surprising how quickly an inflatable pool can become dirty. By having an external filter pump can help to keep your water clean.

Pool Ladders: The walls of your inflatable pool are not rock solid, and they can only take so much pressure before they give and collapse, flooding your garden. Pool ladders are designed to stand over the wall of the pool, allowing you to safely climb in and out without even having to touch the sides.

If you shop around, you can find so many accessories that help you to get the most out your inflatable pool, and if you intend to enjoy it during the summer months, you want it to perform to best of its ability.

When Brendan Smith needs a break from his bustling kindergarten classroom at Collins Lane Elementary, he spends a few minutes in the school’s new “sensory room.”

Brendan has autism, and his mom, Amy, says time in the sensory room helps him pay attention when he returns to class. It keeps him calm and focused, she said, and has contributed to making new friends this year.

“He wouldn’t do as well in school if he didn’t have sensory time,” she said, as the 5-year-old rolled in a ball pit nearby, a huge grin on his face.

“It’s the foundation that helps him be successful at everything else.”

The dimly lit room with pale blue walls holds a bevy of tools teachers use to help kids who have a tough time with the loud voices, bright lights and swirling movement of a typical classroom.

It’s a therapeutic space designed to soothe and calm kids who feel too much stimulation from the world around them, or provide more for kids like Brendan, who seek it out.

There’s an inflatable backyard pool filled with brightly colored plastic balls – kids with autism like to feel the weight on their bodies by burrowing in the pile, Smith said.

“And it’s safe for them to do that,” she said. “They can roll around in it, and that’s important because kids are rough and tumble.”

The room includes a rocking board and a giant swing to give kids a sense of balance, a cushioned “steam roller” that presses on their bodies as they squeeze through it, and a scooter on wheels for gliding around the room.

Students can touch strips of Christmas garland or foam drawer liner, pop bubble wrap and jump on an exercise trampoline. A stereo plays soothing sounds from the corner.

So far 15 kids use the sensory room regularly, Principal Sharla Six says. The eventual goal is to allow all Collins Lane preschoolers to spend time there to boost their learning and make them calmer and more alert, she says.

“Developmentally, this is good for any kids who just need help responding to stimuli,” she said, including kids with ADHD or other conditions.

In addition to the five senses of hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch, Six says the room also addresses two lesser-known ones: proprioception and vestibular input.

Proprioception is the feeling of deep pressure or a hugging sensation – applied correctly it can calm, relax and soothe high-energy kids. Vestibular input is a sense of movement, balance and gravity.

The school spent about $2,000 to convert a classroom into the sensory room, paid for by the Parent-Teacher Organization and school district funds for special education.

Occupational therapist Julie Estill helped plan for the room and pick the items that went into it. Teachers have also bought items on their own to add to the room, Six said, and they swap things out to keep kids interested.

Kari Hyatt, a special education teacher and chair of the department, says kids typically spend 15 minutes in the sensory room. They have a set schedule for visits, but can also earn additional trips.

Every child is different, so a therapy that works with one may not be effective for another. Smith says it can be a matter of trial and error to figure it out, something her son has been working on since age 2.

Using the school sensory room for a total of an hour a day is an extension of the work Brendan does with a private occupational therapist in the evenings. The series of activities is called a “sensory diet,” Smith said, and eventually he will learn to judge what he needs on his own.

“Just like your body needs food to be healthy, that’s what a sensory diet does for my son,” she said. “It’s a diet for his nervous system and gives him the nourishment he needs.”

Smith says she would like to see more schools open rooms to benefit kids with sensory issues. Besides helping them focus in the classroom, she sees it as a way to build independence as they grow older.

“I’m hoping that it catches on and other schools pick it up,” she said.

“You don’t have to have an official diagnosis to benefit from this – we all have sensory issues, some just more than others.”

A serious topic became a fun activity when youngsters got their first taste of scuba diving at Tauranga’s Oceanz Dive Conference and Exhibition held over the weekend.

The conference for dive enthusiasts included Earth2Ocean dive shop using the containers lost overboard from the Rena as inspiration for an interesting challenge in an inflatable pool outside Oceanz’ venue at Baycourt.

Once kids were rigged up with an air tank, they were fitted with blacked-out goggles and told to feel around the floor of the pool to retrieve seven containers – actually lead weights. The reward for perserverance was a bag of lollies.

Tauranga Intermediate pupil Jack McLaren of Papamoa, an enthusiastic free diver who has explored the reefs of Fiji with his parents, needed no persuading to give it a go. A bag of lollies later and he was looking forward to enrolling in one of Earth2Ocean’s 10-week introductory scuba diving courses early next year.

Children from as young as 10 can take the plunge, graduating from Earth2Ocean’s four-metre-deep pool to open water diving. The dive shop’s co-owner Chris Munday said it was a chance for the kids to give it a try and if they liked it they could give it a go for real.

Jack, who can hold his breath for about 75 seconds, said he was really looking forward to not having to surface for lung-fulls of air when he was diving in pursuit of a fish or something else that was interesting. “By the time I have gone back down, the fish can be gone. I’m really looking forward to scuba diving.”

Meanwhile, Oceanz organiser Shane Wasik said the event had been brilliant for the dive enthusiasts who travelled from as far afield as the top of the South Island to attend the rebirth of an event last held in the late-1990s.

The downside to Oceanz 2011 was the disappointing turnout from members of the public to see a fascinating array of exhibits and underwater photos. Mr Wasik, the president of the New Zealand Underwater Association, said they were a bit worried they might not cover their costs and could end up out of pocket. His fiancee Nikki Limond was the other organiser. “It has been a lot of work on top of our day jobs.”

I’m a single mom and have a hard time trying to get my son out of the door. A trip to the community pool takes about five hours and three of those five hours is just getting him ready, prying him from his toys and dragging him there. I purchased this pool to have the pool come to us. It is huge and about the same size as the community kiddie pool. All I have to do is put his trunks on and we are ready for the pool!.My son loves this pool! It is deep enough for him to get the feel of swimming but not too deep for him to feel afraid. This pool is durable and well made.

No Drain Plug – Syphon the Water Out Instead

The biggest concern from most reviewers is the lack of a drain plug. You can easily syphon the water out instead by using about four feet of garden hose. Even if the pool had a drain plug it would be difficult to drain the pool with just the drain plug. At the bottom of this review I am including some basic directions for syphoning.

We purchased one of these at the beginning of summer, and the pool has made it through the summer while withstanding a lot of abuse from our children and their friends. We have a swing set, and we located this under the slide. It is a lot of fun for the kids to slide into the pool. When not sliding into the pool, four or five children can play in it with room to spare. The instructions say not to fill the pool all the way up to the top, but we routinely fill it near the top and this has not caused a problem.

The easiest way to fill the pool up with air is to use the exhaust of a wet/dry vacuum. The ports for filling this with air are sized to fit a hose from a vacuum. Do not buy this unless you have something like a wet/dry vacuum to help you fill it with air.

To syphon water from the pool, submerge a four foot section of garden hose so that it is filled with water. Put your thumb tightly over the end that you will discharge from. Initially, keep the end in the pool as high in the water as possible and the side with your thumb as low as possible. Release your thumb and water should start draining out. Once water starts flowing, position one end to sit at the bottom of the pool and the other end on the ground next to the pool. It is best to syphon from the low spot. To empty all the water takes about an hour.

Glad I took the chance and trusted the positive reviews.,

There were so mixed reviews I was not sure if this would be a good purchase or not. It arrived yesterday and I inflated it with an electric compressor, it took about 40 min. This morning at 5 a.m. I started filling it with water and it took until 6:30 a.m. to fill to the line. I have a smaller size hose so that accounts for it taking longer. I am happy with the quality of the pool it feels like it will hold up, not flimsy. It does have a drain in the bottom.

I called a local pool store and they told me to add 1/8 to 1/4 cup chlorine bleach daily to keep the pool sanitary that I can use it about 5 days then drain and refill. I am glad to hear this, I know standing water that humans have been in breeds bacteria if not treated.

The pool looks really cool too the way they did the clear and the bright green inside. I am using it as an adult to do exercise in. It is deep enough to do leg kicks and move around. I have been sick for 7weeks so this is a good way to ease back into exercise and getting my strength back. It is also just plain fun.

I feel if it lasts one summer I got my moneys worth. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to cool off.

Grandpa’s Daycare activity,

Great size pool to keep my 4 grandkids (ages 3-7)occupied for the summer. This is a my third pool of the same model from the same manufacturer (one lasted a summer, the second one 2 summers). It is a good size for several kids and an occasional hot Grandpa. Some of the previous complaints (too big to inflate, no drain, no filter)have some merit. Fortunately,I’ve got an air compressor that inflates both air chambers in about 10 minutes and a small pump that I hook up to a sprinkler that drains the water once a week. I use a hand held pool skimmer to clean the grass and leaves out every morning. I daycare the kids every weekday and they are in and out of this pool 2 or 3 times every day. I keep the pool on a old 6X9 area rug on the corner of my concrete patio and get a summer’s worth of fun for the kids which is well worth the approx. $40 price. And by the way, this year’s model I received has a drain plug in the bottom. I don’t think I’ll use it ’cause my current system works fine for me and the added plug may cause more problems than it’s worth.

Great Fun for children of all ages…,

We bought it along other water slides and toys for my daughters first Birthday.. this wasn’t particularly for her but most of the children were older than her (2-9 years old)… setup was easy, yes it takes a lot of water but luckily we have a water well, so it wasn’t that expensive to fill it up… emptying the whole thing was easy too…

kids were playing from 1pm till 5pm, parents had to drag them out of it… none of the other water toys were as fun … I would highly recommend it…

Awesome!!!

I bought this for my daughter’s first birthday party! She and all of her friends love it! It’s even fun for her without water in it. Plenty of toys to play with and fun features to keep her entertained. I would buy it all over again!

Great product

I can’t believe people are complaining about deflation. That is what happens with rubber, to stop it exploding it contracts and expands in heat. We have had it up a month in MD heat, the hottest July on record and the rubber got very thin but no issues with it at all.

Both me and daddy jump in with our little girl, we put all of her plastic balls in and she loves it. It is big, takes up her entire nursery. the wading pool is a great depth! I stepped in and it went above my waist. Bright colours and lots of fun.

Fun Pool,

My kids love this pool. So much things to do with it compared to an average baby pool. My 7 year old plays on the back pool, while my baby on the front pool, we also love the shower head, it gives us a rain sort of feel. The only hard part was blowing all the parts, but it didn’t took long. It’s a very good first pool for my baby.

I bought this for my two year old daughter for her birthday, and she loves it. As others have said, it’s actually the size you would expect coming out of the box. I actually inflated it myself without a pump, and it didn’t seem to take that long. I used the larger valves to blow most of the air and once it was close to inflated, I used the smaller valves to finish.

It seems durable enough so far. I will echo one other person’s comment about there not being drains. While they would be nice, it wasn’t that big of a deal to drain this morning. I just stepped on the sides and let a lot of the water drain out that way.

I highly recommend.

Great Pool!!!,

I bought this for my 5 yr old, and she absolutely LOVES it! The only problem I’ve had with it is the rainbow leans a bit, but it’s not that big of a deal. There is a lot of stuff on it to entertain a munchkin which is important, in fact it’s the only pool I’ve seen that has games on it. Most important are the six balls that provide endless entertainment for my kid. It’s a great size, just what I expected. Overall it exceeded my expectations! Someone said there was no drain, mine has a drain in both sections. The sprayer I don’t use,though it looks like fun. I would definitely recommend this product!

Pefect for kids under 4 years old

We bought this for our 19-month-old and his 3 and 4 year old cousins, and it is a tremendous hit. The little one loves the squeakers and the older one loves throwing balls through the rings. When you hook the hose up to the top of the rainbow and turn the pressure up, the shower goes crazy.

We blew up the two pools with the shop vac on reverse, and the rest with an air compressor hooked up to the car battery. We had no problem getting that rainbow upright but still, the whole thing took over 30 minutes to inflate so you’d have to be crazy to attempt it with a bike pump (or your lungs). We have yet to find the elusive pool drain valves that people talk about (and it makes me think there are different, but similar models because the directions were only general and made for several models), but we deflate the 2 pools and drain the water each night before storing it upside-down so that mosquitoes don’t make their home in it anyway. I’ve posted two pictures in the “share your own” gallery at the top of the page.

2011 VERSION HAS DRAIN PLUG

This pool was given as a gift to my girls on their combined 1st and 3rd Birthday Party. I was a little hesitant at first, with all the parts I had to blow up!. A pump is a must for this pool! But, since I have blown it up, it has been great. I have had no problems with the rainbow falling down or pool parts deflating. And YES FOLKS THEY ADDED DRAIN HOLES FOR BOTH SIDES OF THE POOL!!! Hooray!!!! We where worried about that after reading the reviews! Great pool for a 1 and 3 year old!

Ball Pit

I used this pool for my sons first birthday party as a ball pit. I filled it with 450 normal sized ball pit balls and 200 smaller balls and it worked out great. My son and all of the other little guests loved it. I can’t wait to try it out next summer with water… hope it lasts that long

Awesome, good quality pool!!,

I bought this pool used and it still lasted through two summers. The kids loved it! It just started to leak air ( I think i set it up on a thistle) but it is a slow leak. It takes about 5 minutes to inflate with the air compressor and 15-20 to fill up with water. It has two sections and a lot of fun activities to play with. Each section has a drain. I did cut the slide out the second summer because it was hard to clean under. I was able to keep it up for about a week at a time before having to empty, clean and refill. loved it and we will get another one!!

2 kids love it!! well worth the money!,

i bought this pool for my very active 3 1/2 yr old son & my 1 1/2 yr old daugter. they LOVE it!!! my son thought it was way better than the plain rectangular pool we’ve used the past two summers. it is much larger than i expected and it will definitely occupy them for a while. not only do my kids love it, but so do all the kids in our playgroup. i had 6 kids all playing together and no problems at all. i was even thinking of bringing it inside in the winter and using it as a ball pit. this was well worth the money and i am very pleased with this purchase. i would recommend it many times!

Daughter loves the pool.

My 10 month old daughter loves to play in the pool. We put just an inch or two of water and she loves feeling around and going down the slide. I never would have guessed how much entertainment we could get out of it.

Suprising Hit at 4 yr. Birthday Party,

Love this pool. I purchased it for my daughter’s 4th yr. birthday party as a supplement to our large Banzai Waterslide (to give younger kids a place to play). The younger kids, and suprisingly, the older kids enjoyed this pool. The slide took much abuse (used like a bouncer or sometimes a slip and slide) and is still holding up. Kids enjoyed sliding on their stomachs from the deeper pool to shallow and visa-versa. My daughter loves this pool and it has become our go-to weekend pool (Banzai is only brought out for special occassion).

Rainbow Ring Pool Play Center

This pool was a huge hit with my 2 year old grand daughter during her recent weekend visit at Grandma’s house.

Great Pool!

This is a great pool for very little kids. The little slide is great. This pool not only lets kids cool off but also amuses them at the same time. Great for play dates or just family fun!