PVC Projects for Camp

Ten feet of 1 1/2 inch PVC pipe costs around $5, as of March 2011.

Making new friends, learning teamwork, trying new activities and having a good time are all part of the camp experience. If you are looking for camp projects that can embrace all of these activities at once, you should consider crafts made out of PVC. PVC is a rigid plastic plumbing pipe that is cheap, and easy to work with and assemble. Pipe ends are joined by special water-resistant glue and manufactured PVC connectors that allow for right angles, bends and splits, much like a child's erector set.

PVC Wind Chimes

One of the least complicated and cheapest projects that can be completed using PVC is creating a set of wind chimes. You need only one 8-foot-long, 1/2-inch pipe and some plywood for building materials. You do not need to cut PVC chimes to a standard length, so your campers can experiment with how the length of pipe changes the pitch of the chime.

PVC Instrument

A more challenging, but still affordable, project involves constructing a PVC instrument. There are a A number of instruments can be constructed, each one with its own level of difficulty. A great example is a PVC instrument that is struck with paddles and was made famous by the musical entertainment troop, the Blue Man Group. This PVC instrument involves cutting PVC piping to certain predesigned lengths to match respective pitches. The most basic version of the Blue Man Group PVC instrument requires only seven notes.

PVC Tent

PVC is useful for constructing simple structures like tents. A basic lean-to only requires a few 1 1/2-inch pipes and a tarp. However, more complex structures are possible. Greenhouses can be constructed out of PVC and plastic sheeting. Map out a structure to build or break campers into teams and let them experiment. Add a competitive element by holding a contest to see which cabin can create the best structure.

PVC Boat

PVC can be used to make flotation devices, like rafts or kayaks. Rafts are fairly easy to construct with PVC since all that is needed is piping, pipe caps and a method to secure them together. However, a raft might be a more expensive option because you need a larger diameter of piping to reach necessary buoyancy to stay afloat. Cheaper, but far more challenging, is the option to construct a PVC kayak. For this project, you need 1 1/2-inch pipe, a waterproof tarp, some strong duct tape and a well thought out plan.

References

• PVC Workshop: Free PVC Plans
• NateTrue: Building a PVC Instrument