A foldable, portable fabric children's wading pool for installation in the ground and which has improved stability characteristics is provided. The pool includes a base region with a generally circular sheet of water-resistant woven fabric with a thread denier of between 400 denier and 600 denier, a stabilizer region comprising one or more sections of woven fabric with a thread denier of between 200 denier and 400 denier, where the stabilizer region is affixed to the outer edge of the base region, and with a number of sand anchors affixed to the stabilizer region. The pool is set up by digging a hole in the ground and forming berms along the edges of the hole. Then, the pool is unfolded and positioned such that the waterproof fabric base is in the hole, and the sand anchor section extends downwardly and outwardly from the edge of the sand berm. Then, a weighting material is loaded onto the sand anchor section and the pool is filled with water, preferably using the waterproof bag that also serves as a storage and transport bag for the pool when folded.