Last updated on October 24th, 2023
Inside: This summertime car wash activity will be a huge hit for your little one! Water play is a must during the hot summer months, but sometimes splashing in the kiddie pool or water table can get boring. In this post you’ll learn another easy water play activity to keep in your arsenal. Bonus: it requires almost no set up!
Hot Summer Weather
We pretty much live in our bathing suits during the summer months. After being cooped up all winter long, nothing is better than spending every waking minute outside.
During the hot summer days, we can usually be found in our small kiddie pool splashing around or pouring buckets of water into our water table. Sometimes we bust out the splash pad too!
But even those activities, while fun, can become monotonous. I like to switch things up from time to time and add in some other water play activities to keep things interesting.
Easy Summertime Car Wash Activity
If you know me, you’ll know I only do easy. I’m all about easy set up, easy clean up, and uncomplicated activities. Because who has time for all that work before the activity even starts?! Not me.
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What You’ll Need
This Toddler Car Wash Activity is about as easy as it gets. You’ll need any sort of toddler outdoor push car or sit-in car. Heck – even a plastic wagon will do! Basically anything with wheels that can also get wet. Other than that, you’ll just need a bucket, dish soap, and a sponge.
What To Wash
You can get creative with what you use to ‘wash’ the car. We used a new kitchen sponge and some clean paintbrushes and mini paint rollers we had lying around from a separate activity. You could also use a rag if you don’t have any sponges. Really, anything will work!
What To Do
All you’ve gotta do now is fill your bucket with soap and water and hand over the sponge. If it is their first time or they are younger, you may need to demonstrate first, but they will catch on quickly!
Let them go to town and get bubbly and wet. They may try to ‘wash’ or ‘paint’ other things you’re not okay with so have some dialogue prepared for how you might handle that.
When my guy tried to ‘wash’ the mulch flower bed, I simply said, “sponges are for cars, not mulch. Can you wash the car door?”. This was enough to redirect while holding my boundary.
Once you can tell their attention is waning or you’re getting too toasty from the sun, bust out the hose and give the car a good spraying down. This is the extra fun part!
Let them be in control of the hose and guide them on where to spray, “Can you spray the seat?” to get started. Then let them have fun getting soaked.
We had so much fun getting all sudsy and cooled off with this super simple car wash activity. If you’re looking for more water play activities check this sponge wash post out detailing another easy one you can do today! Will you give it a try on the next sunny day?
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