At Home Kid’s Car Wash

Who is ready for one last summer inspired activity? Can you tell I’m leaning hard into my denial that summer is on its way out. Today’s post requires very few materials to get started and has been a winner every single time I set it up.

I have to really practice my patience when I set up something for the kids only to have it flop, especially if I went through the whole process of applying sunscreen, gathering towels, and turning on the hose for a water activity. It’s the worst, right? To avoid frustration on my part and give myself a higher chance of the kids being engaged with this activity, I usually limit the car wash to 2-3 times each summer. Just enough so they know what to do on round 2 or 3, but not too often that it gets boring or predictable.

Here’s what you need

Sensory bin. You can use a bucket or a bowl, but I love how the kids can see through the walls of the bin. This invites and allows so much more exploration and observation.
Soap. We just use a little bit of regular dish soap.
Sponges. I like this pack- basic, low price point per sponge, and enough to go around.
Water. In a bucket, sprinkler, or however you want to dispense it. We used our flower sprinkler and I set up our water table.
Something to wash. We love making this an actual car wash with this car, but you could pick an outdoor chair, a slide, or even a water table. I will admit, I don’t like to have a lot of things for the kids because it feels like clutter. We already have multiple strollers, a wagon that doesn’t work, a wagon that does work, and so on, but this car is beloved by all of my children and I would highly recommend if you are on the fence about adding one more thing.

Set up

2 minutes

Set up your water source. That could be a sprinkler, hose, water table, or bucket.
Set out the soap, sponges, and what needs to be washed.

Clean up

2-10 minutes

Rinse off your car or other object that got all soapy. The kids made this part of the activity by putting the car in the sprinkler! I vote for this approach if it’s doable for you.
Dump out water and rinse out sponges. Let the sponges air dry for later use. We have a set of outside sponges that get played with all the time. They are dingy now at the end of August, but I get new ones every summer and they are used in pretend play a lot outside.
Clean off the kids. This was the longest part for us because we had freshly cut grass and 3 wet kids. I definitely do not recommend this if you can help it. I let the towels and clothes dry in the sun for a bit and shake out excess grass before putting into the washing machine.

To get started, I let the kids put the soap in the bin. Of course they each had to take multiple turns squirting the soap, but this allows practice in impulse control and working cooperatively. Then they had to figure out how to fill the bin up with water.

It took them a few tries to find the most efficient way and I liked watching the process. It can be tempting to just do everything for them so they can get on with the “fun” part of the activity, but kids thrive with being a part of the whole process. Not only is it a great learning opportunity, but it gives them a sense of control and they feel a sense of accomplishment when they problem solve and come up with their own solution.

I’ve actually found this activity to be a great way to help ease my kids into playing with a sprinkler. My first two children were a little hesitant around sprinklers when they were younger, so having a goal-oriented activity made the sprinkler seem less intrusive or intimidating somehow. Our littlest one is 11 months old right now and loves a face full of water, so we’ll see how that shakes out as she gets older.

The big kids love the sprinkler now thankfully. Sometimes I vary the intensity or height of the spray depending on how we are using it. If I know it will be on for a long time in the background, like this activity, I will keep the sprinkler on a lower flow rate. It feels less wasteful to me, but I would have to research the impact that makes on water consumption.

Ellette still puts absolutely everything in her mouth, so I usually set up a different, non-soapy activity for her. She loves to play with this water table and this sprinkler while the big kids play with other things. She wasn’t walking when we did this car wash, so stationary toys that keep her attention were a must. Depending on how focused I can be on her, I’ll sometimes give her a sponge to play with as well, but it mainly just gets sucked on at this point.

If I’m honest, it’s harder for me to set up complex or involved sensory activities for her simply because my time is filled with so many other demands. I guess that’s to be expected with 3 kids, but I do have to talk myself off the mom guilt ledge sometimes. As much as it can be a pain to get the suit and sunscreen on, she loves water and it’s a relatively easy set up and clean up. She gets to play, I feel better about giving her different toys and sensory experiences. Win, win.

baby playing outside with water and toys

The kids washed, rinsed, and repeated for nearly an hour and had a great time running around with the soap and bubbles. It’s not our norm to play with dish soap outside, so the unexpected aspect of this activity keeps their attention longer.

A fun way to keep the fun going is to call out what part of the car is dirty. The kids like a little bit of direction or task focused way of approaching this, so I get to stand back or sit down and call out “front wheels” or “hood”. They usually race around trying to get bubbles on the sponges and get to the car as quickly as possible so I can call out the next thing that needs to be cleaned. Sometimes I’ll call out “your elbows” or another body part and they will have to wash each other or themselves and rinse off in the sprinkler. This game has quickly morphed into a top request and they will want me to tell them what is dirty quite often.

A bonus to this activity is that the toys actually get cleaned! I didn’t snap any pictures, but our water table was a little grimy from being outside this summer. We used the soap and sponges to wash it and now it looks great! Cleaning disguised as playing? I feel like I’ve peaked.

I loved that this car wash was not a one-and-done situation. It required no effort on my part to get them set up for a second, or fifth, round. Sometimes with paper crafts or paint, I just barely step away from cleaning or filling one thing when they need something refilled, wiped, or rinsed off before they can use it again. Sometimes I am game for being an active participant for the long haul, but I think we all want some activities that allow more independent play.

Cheers to the end of summer. I hope you soak up some sun (with SPF of course) and build some memories with your kids. I know life can be crazy, but I have been making an effort to intentionally observe my kids playing at least once a day and it has been wonderful and grounding. Kids really don’t need much to be happy and it has reminded me that adults actually don’t need much either.

Have you ever hosted an at home car wash, real or otherwise? Do we now think I can get the kids to wash our real car? Let me know in the comments below what objects your kids like to wash. And someone please tell me if I’m the only one with kids who are afraid of sprinklers. Don’t forget to share this post with someone who could use inspiration on kid’s activities- this kid’s car wash is a game changer!