Other Uses for the Pool Noodle

 I found these great ideas for using pool noodles on createcraftlove.com.  They are from a variety of websites, so if you want more information, check out the links at the bottom of each idea.

From GingerSnapCrafts.com guest posting on Crazy Little Projects blog.

For this project you’ll need:

• felt
• pool noodle
• twine or rope
• googly eyes
• hot glue gun & glue

First you’ll bend your pool noodle on one end. You’ll want to have someone hold it like that for you. (Kids make awesome helpers on this project!) Then you’ll hot glue the felt mane onto the back of the pony’s head. Then you’ll tie a piece of twine or rope around the end of the bent pool noodle. Tie it pretty tight so it will hold nice & snug. I used a pretty long piece of twine, so I would have a little extra to make some “reins” for my kiddos to hold on to.

Then you’ll add some felt ears around the bend of the noodle, and then glue on some googly eyes. Now it’s time to giddy up! Wahoo! :)

http://crazylittleprojects.com/2013/07/poolnoodleponies.html

This idea is from Ramblings from Utopia.

Now I saw this done with marbles, the noodle was a much small diameter, so when I saw the giant noodle on sale at the grocery store we snagged the last one!

My new obsession other than drilling holes in toys is matchbox cars, wait till I show you are flying ones!  

But that will have to wait for another week since their just so so cool they deserve their own DIY post.

1. Buy an extra large diameter foam pool noodle, I got mine 1/2 price at the super market ($1.50)
2. cut the noodle in half with a serrated knife (one side than the other side or electric knife you can cut straight through both sides)
3. once the noodle is in two pieces lay them on the ground side by side
4. insert toothpicks where the two halves of the foam noodles touch each other
5. use as many toothpicks as need to hold the noodle tracks tight together
6. then with a need nose pliers clip the ends of the tooth picks flush to the noodle

 Now you're ready to decorate your track

Using cardstock at toothpicks I created small flags for along the sides of the track

 Again with cardstock cut to size I stamped Start and Finish then I cut wooden or bamboo skewers down to size leaving the pointed end exposed (makes it easier to insert into the foam) I then used fast drying Aleene's Tacky glue I glued the two pieces of cardstock together with the cut ends of the wooden skewers sandwiched in between and we were ready to race!

Finally just prop the track up on a chair, table, bed, pretty much anything, the higher the prop the faster the cars go.

http://www.ramblingsfromutopia.com/2012/04/diy-pool-noodle-race-track.html

Have fun giving your pool noodles a new life and your kids another fun end-of-summer activity!