Car Wash Outdoor Kid Activity

This car wash activity is such a great outdoor kid activity! It’s so easy to set up and entertains the kids. Since my kids have a larger age spread (1.5 and almost 6) I love coming up with an activity that entertains them both. It’s perfect for a hot summer day, too.

Read on for how you can set this up and give your kids something fun and different to do TODAY.

I thought of this activity when we were cleaning up Fitz’s room and I noticed how dirty all of hot wheels and toy cars were. So gross! I thought if I made it a fun activity then the kids could do all the hard work. 🙂

How to Set Up

It doesn’t take much to set this activity up, and I promise you already have what you need. This is a water activity, so I did throw my kids in their swimsuits before we went outside.

Here’s what you need:

A tub or bucket of soapy water. We used the hose outdoor to fill it up and I brought out a bottle of dish soap.
A bunch of toy cars.
Any kind of washrags, sponges, or cleaning tools

What to do

We headed out with our tub of supplies. We sprayed the ground a bit and made a nice mud pile. The kids got their toy cars good and muddy and had fun playing in the dirt with their toys. I don’t usually let them do this, so it was a novel idea to them!

Then, they brought the toy cars to the car wash tub and scrubbed away. They went back and forth, from the mud to the car wash multiple times while I….. read a book! Literally, it was so easy to supervise them in one spot and get a little time to relax.

Why we love it

Kids of multiple ages can do this. My 1 and 5 year old were both on task.
It’s something just a bit different so it got them curious and engaged in a new activity.
Just lay the clean toys out to dry afterwards and now our toy cars are sparkly clean!

This activity would work with other toys too, and it’s a great way to give the toys a good cleaning while also keeping your kids busy!

What do you think? Will you try this one? I’d love to know! Tag me on Instagram if you try it.