Muddy Car Wash Activity for Kids

Who’s ready for an awesome mud play idea?  A muddy car wash is a terrific mud activity for preschoolers! Drive those cars through the mud, down the ramp, and “splash” into a bucket of soapy water!

My toddlers and preschoolers are enjoying lots of water play activities and  mud play now that the summer weather has arrived.

Their favourite combination of the two is this awesome muddy car wash activity. It’s a fantastic activity for young children, and especially for kids who love cars and trucks.

It’s a really simple activity to set up, and they spend hours driving their toy cars through mud, racing them down a track and landing in a basin of soapy water!  They were at it for ages this morning!

How I made our muddy car wash activity

First, I turned our wagon into a mud pit by mixing up some potting soil, several scoops of sandbox sand, and a bucketful of water.  (If you’ve been following along with us, you’ll know I often transform our wheelbarrow into a mobile mud pit for the kids to play in.)

Next, I filled a large, shallow rubbermaid container with soapy water, and placed it on the ground, several feet away from the wagon.

Then I connected several pieces of Hot Wheels Tracks (affiliate link) and stuck one end in the muddy wagon and the other in the bin of soapy water.

I set a table up beside the wagon and put a bunch of toy cars on it, and called then kids over.

They were so excited! The drove their cars through the wagon of mud to get them good and dirty, and then they placed them on the track and drove them down the ramp into the bin of soapy water.

The basin of water didn’t stay clean for long, but that made things even more fun; they had to search around in the murky water to find their cars.

Because of their muddy wheels, the cards didn’t exactly zoom down the track, but the Hooligans didn’t mind. They were happy to push them along until they reached their destination.

Note: Your kids could get quite dirty with this activity.

A couple of the Hooligans managed to stay quite clean while playing with the muddy car wash. Even Miss Mess wasn’t too bad, although I did give her clothes a soapy rinse before sending them home.

This little guy however…

He normally doesn’t like to get dirty, but just look at him here. He had so much fun.

And it was so cute – I set out a big bowl of soapy water for them to wash up in when they were finished, and he washed his hands until they sparkled and then came running over to me, proudly shouting “I’m clean, I’m clean!”. Meanwhile, the rest of him looked like this:

Sure, little guy.  Whatever you say!

I’m sharing this next photo for those of you who might be horrified by the state of his clothing.

I tossed his shorts and shirts onto the grass and poured some of our homemade laundry detergent on them, and gave them a good blast with the garden hose.

In less than a minute, they were perfectly clean.

See….  don’t let a little dirt scare ya!  Let your kids get messy with a muddy car wash.

They’ll love you for it, and it will keep them entertained for ages on a warm day.

If however, you’d rather do a cleaner version of this activity, check out our shaving cream car wash. It’s a ton of fun too!

More Fun Messy and Muddy Play Ideas:

• Fun in Our Mobile Mud Pit
• Sensory Art with Shaving Cream 
• Shaving Cream Car Wash

Follow the Hooligans on Facebook

SUBSCRIBE

for FREE crafts, 

activities & recipes!

 

Your kids will never be bored again!

Jackie Currie

Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.