A Wet Way to Learn Liquid Measurements

BACKGROUND: Don't look at my messy deck.  As you can see my 14.6 year old dog is enjoying discovering what I am making.  You can see the tail end of my other dog on her blue mat by the chair.  The photo is  of a SPLASH PAD for the school.  The rug underneath is outside because I brought it outside to air it after cleaning it.  I have "grayed" out some of my supplies so as not to distract you.
CREATIVITY:  The splash pad I made for myself was originally filled with multicolored foam puzzle pieces.  Hubby said, "NO."  So, I bought plain blue ones that are each 2' x 2'.  When I was trying to arrange the multicolored pieces into pints (eight small 1' square pieces.  They will each sit two kids (each child represents one cup.  I wanted everything square to fit into the GALLON SPLASH PAD.  My friend has the extra blue piece in her classroom.
I tried for hours and hours to get the system to work.  No luck.  Finally I came up with the idea of using four of my big pieces to complete the grid. 
BUYING:  Another teacher friend on the same first grade team is going to HomeDepot with me today to buy four 10' pieces of pvc 1/2" pipe.  We will cut these down to eight 4' sections with straight  pvc connectors holding them together.  We are doing this to make them more portable and storable.  The outside perimeter of the mats measures 8' x 8'.  We will also buy four elbow pvc connectors for the corners. One of the connectors will be a three way with grooves to connect the hose connection.

The white piece on the left is the pvc connector.  You need to cut off a small 2" piece of pipe and glue it inside.  This end will fit into the three-way T connector.  The hose connectors are on the right.  You will need a male and a female connector.  

I do not glue any other pieces together on the set, so that I can take it apart to store it.
Once the outside frame it connected, drill holes slanting into the middle 8" apart.
 MISTAKES: I just got back from my friend's house after trying to help her make the splash pad for school.   If you go to Home Depot you need a garden house adapter LFA-665 3/4 X 3/4 "(male).  You will also need a garden hose swivel pivot 3/4"  LFA-662 (female).  These two pieces are on the metal plumbings aisle, not the pvc aisle.  The white adapter above is a 3/4" one.  We had to put 3/4" to 1/2" adapter in for the 1/2"  small piece of pvc to go into. Item 437-101HC.

When we got home, her husband drilled holes that were too close together and too big.  It didn't splash up at all.  Use a 1/16" bit and only drill the holes EIGHT inches apart.  

If you want to see how it works go HERE.
MATH:  The kids are to compare the Gallon House verse to the Gallon Square verse.

The Gallon House

The gallon house—it has four floors.

Each one’s a quart, it has no doors.

Each floor has two pint-sized rooms,

Cleaned with tiny pint-sized brooms.

Each room has two windows, dear.

Each one’s a cup, I hope that’s clear.

There’s sixteen cups in the house in all,

The gallon house is really tall.

And if you cut the house in half,

It’s really hard to take a bath.

The Gallon Square—it has four rows.

Each one’s a quart—where water flows.

Each row has two pints of a different hue,

And each pint holds TWO of you.

Each child represents a cup.

It takes sixteen of you to fill the gallon square up.

And if you cut the square in half,

That’s okay, you don’t have to take a bath….

  Because we know that you will get…

  Really, really, really WET.

Gallon House 

Questions:

1.     Compare the two verses.  How are they the same?

2.   How many quarts are in a gallon?

3.   How many pints are in a half gallon?

4.   How many cups are in a whole gallon?

5.   How many cups are in a pint?

6.   How many pints are in a whole gallon?

7.   How many pints are in a quart?

8.   How many cups are in a quart?

9.   How many quarts are in a half gallon?

10.  What happens in the splash gallon that doesn’t      happen in the gallon house?