Who knew 20 feet of tin foil, a garden hose, and a few pieces of foam could be so much fun? (Well, ok, up until the point where the argument began and mom put the fun to an end.)

I originally got the idea for the tin foil river last fall from Camo and Bows and promptly pinned it to my Pinterest board to bring out this summer.

This activity kept the kids busy for about an hour, until I just got tired of the fights over whose little foam "ship" won the race. (I really need to find a way to address this tendency to bickering.)

If you're thinking of trying it out, here's how we did it. We unrolled the entire roll in a line. (It works a little better if you have a slight slope in your yard.) We chose to put a curve in our river. Once it's rolled out, we bent up the sides. We had to find wooden blocks and other things to hold up the sides where it tended to leak. To fill up our river, we placed the garden hose at the top of the line and turned it on a slowish speed, but more than a trickle.

Here's what it will cost you:

• A cheap roll of 20 feet foil from Walmart - approx. $1
• 1 hour or so added to your water utility bill
• Creative brain cells to find small floatable items laying around

Have fun!