Useful Ways To Use Pool Noodles

The Water Woggle was only invented in the late 1980s, and in just a short time it was everywhere, to the point that today nobody can even remember a time when it didn’t exist. What, you haven’t heard of the Water Woggle? Well, that’s because nobody knows it by its original name. However, the general product, the pool noodle, is ubiquitous.

Though it was invented as a pool toy and aquatic aerobics device, the pool noodle has many uses outside of a pool. Just consider how many homes you see that have them in their garage. While that has become a mainstream use for the pool noodle, there are many lesser known pool noodle uses that should become just as popular, for the pool noodle has more versatility than edible noodles do. Read on for four great ways you can use a pool noodle to improve your life. 

Pool Noodle Sabers

For kids who grow up as Star Wars fans, it is pretty much guaranteed that they will have lightsaber battles with their friends, thankfully with sabers that are far less harmful than the ones in the actual films. Some of the best ways to improvise homemade lightsabers are out of pool noodles. They are totally harmless, even compared to other tools kids might use, and they are also colorful, just like their cinematic counterparts.

If you’re a parent, this makes for a great birthday party idea. They are inexpensive, and you can even create the holsters for them using markers and duct tape to make them look more like real lightsabers. This may be the safest and easier lightsaber party idea there is, and to be honest, it’d even be pretty fun for an adult party.

Lincoln Pool Noodles

A great way to teach your kids about history is to have them play with Lincoln Logs. Okay, they probably won’t learn much about history, and the connection is pretty tenuous between a kids’ toy where they build log cabins and America’s 16th president. With that said, Lincoln Logs are a fun toy for kids, and as far as building toys go, they’re a whole lot cheaper than getting Legos for you kids. 

They are a good way to foster creativity, and they were actually invented by John Lloyd Wright, the son of Frank Lloyd Wright, who was inspired by his father to make a toy based around building a log cabin. If you ever wished you could get your kids some life size Lincoln Logs that were totally safe and didn’t cost a fortune, well you are in luck, because you can make your own out of pool noodles! Get around 15 of them and cut them in half for regular log sizes, and then cut notches into them, and cut a few up to make the connecting pieces, and you have the best playset a kid could ask for.

A Pool Noodle Abacus

How can you make math fun for children? Quite frankly, you probably can’t, at least for most kids. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try, and yes, you can use pool noodles to engage kids in the typically dull subject. Do this by using them to make an oversized abacus out of colorful polyethylene foam. 

You’ll have to spend some time cutting up different colored pool noodles with scissors, making sure to get precise, or at least almost precise, measurements to evenly cut the fractions. Get a marker out and write the fractions onto the segments, and then put it all together and you’ll have something that will hopefully be both educational and entertaining for your kids. They may hate it, but then again, this may be the thing that sparks the interest of a future mathematician, physicist, or some kind of tech innovator, so it is worth taking that risk.

Pool Noodle Boot Stuffers

It can be a total drag to buy expensive boots only to have them be limp and floppy before you know it. The once bold, confident, upright facing boots quickly lose their stiff appearance and just look downtrodden and sad. This is especially true for seasonal boots that get neglected in the closet for much of the year, often with all sorts of things piled on top of them. If they were cheap to replace, this wouldn’t be much of an issue, but good quality boots are practically luxury goods in terms of their cost

This is where pool noodles can be a total lifesaver. If you stuff your boots with them when you aren’t wearing them, they will keep their shape and be as good as new for much longer than you ever would have thought possible. This may be the greatest of all uses of pool noodles, and if there is any logic to the world we will soon stop calling them pool noodles and start calling them boot stuffers. Future articles should be written about how boot stuffers can also be used as fun pool toys!