A Seesaw for All Seasons: a DIY Water-Powered Seesaw With a Sliding Penguin

Looking for a fun and easy project to do with your kids? Why not try making a water powered seesaw! This project is perfect for a hot summer day, and it's a great way to teach your kids about the power of water. Plus, it's a lot of fun!

Supplies

Materials:

• 3/4th inch PVC Pipe 18 inches
• 25 mm Conduit pipe 1" x 2 pcs - product link
• Sketch Pen
• 3/4 inch PVC Coupler- product link
• 1 marble ball for see-saw - product link
• 1 marble ball for penguin
• 10" x 10" Sun Board - product link
• Pencil cut pieces
• Lightweight Air-Dry Modelling Clay (to make the penguin) - product link
• PVC casing - product link
• 1 watt submersible water pump and 8 mm soft pipe - product link

Tools:

• Drill
• 8 mm drill bit
• Utility knife
• Scissors
• Ruler
• PVC cutter

Step 1: Making the Pivot Point

Find the center of the 18th inch PVC pipe and drill a hole(8mm) on one side.

Step 2: Axle and Inlet

We took a sketch pen and used its body as an axle and inlet because of its hollow nature.

• used one piece as an axle.
• used the second piece as both an axle and a water inlet.

Step 3: Making the Fulcrum of Seesaw

• We took a 1.5-cm piece from the coupler and made holes on the opposite sides.
• Pass the PVC pipe through the 1.5-cm coupler piece and align the holes.

Step 4: Connecting Axle and Water Inlet

• Glue both the sketch pen pieces through the aligned holes.
• Connect the soft pipe with the water inlet side.

Step 5: Making a Marble Run With Two Pieces of Conduit Pipe

• Cut out two 1 inch pieces of the conduit pipe and block their insides using a pencil piece.
• Marking 1/4th of 18 inch pipe from both sides (which is 4.5 inches).
• Shove one piece of the conduit pipe cut piece 4.5 inches deep.
• From the other side put the marble ball inside and jam it in with the other conduit pipe cut piece 4.5 inches deep.

Step 6: Assembling the Seesaw Mechanism

• Fix two pieces of PVC to a piece of wood to make a stand.
• Drill holes in both pieces of PVC, slightly larger than the diameter of the sketch pen piece.
• Now place the whole mechanism on the stand to complete the seesaw.
• Connect a 1-watt water submersible pump with the soft pipe.
• In a tray, fill enough water to submerge the water pump.

Step 7: Making a Sliding Mechanism for the Penguin

Now that the seesaw is working, it's time to make a sliding mechanism for our penguin.

• Here we have made a lightweight penguin using air-dry clay and glued it to a skateboard made of sunboard.
• Make a dolly for the penguin to slide on using a marble ball and sunboard.

Step 8: Final Result

Voila!! Our penguin slides as the seesaw oscillates. It was originally inspired by the Japanese shishi odoshi bamboo fountain, but we decided to take it overboard by converting it into a seesaw form and adding a splash of creativity by adding a sliding penguin on top.

• Concept: The marble inside the pipe partially blocks water from passing out, causing it to accumulate and let one side of it go heavy. This creates the oscillatory movement of the seesaw.
• Disclaimer: One should be very accurate and careful with the measurements to make this perfectly. I hope you guys have fun making this.