Super Simple Washing Line DIY Car Wash for Kids

Do you want a fun way to keep your kids cool this summer?

Do you need some simple outdoor play that won’t take forever to set up?

Do you want a realistic project that is actually achievable?

Then this DIY Car Wash for Kids is perfect – it’s super simple to put together, it doesn’t cost a lot, and is great for imaginative play whilst keeping nice and cool!

And what’s more – it all hangs from your washing line making it super easy to assemble and put away!

Let’s get straight to it…

How To Make A Super Simple DIY Car Wash For Kids

This DIY Car wash for kids is made up of a number of parts all attached to a washing line so don’t worry if you aren’t able to make every part, just do the parts you can – your kids will love it!

What You'll Need for your DIY Kids Car Wash

Some of these things you may have already, and if not they are all relatively cheap to pick up from the shops:

Bucket & Car Sponges – Any bucket will do, we used a sandcastle bucket and some sponges we already had for cleaning the car. However if you don’t have a bucket to hand a washing up bowl would work just as well and a regular washing up sponge or scrubbing brush!
Bubbles – If you have a bubble machine then this would work great for a continuous stream of bubbles, however this isn’t necessary, you can just use a bubble wand and have the kids join in blowing the bubbles
Hula Hoop – This will form part of the ‘shower’ part of the car wash so if you have one already (even a broken one would work fine) if not they can be picked up really cheap (if you are purchasing one, then don’t go for one that’s too big because it will take longer to assemble the next part!)
Shower Curtain – This was a genius idea even if I do say so myself! We purchased a very cheap blue shower curtain to cut up for the ‘shower’ but clear would work well too or even white – we just got the cheapest! If you can’t get a shower curtain then you could attach ribbons or something similar but bear in mind that these will get wet and soggy unlike the shower curtain
Sprinkler – We again went for the cheapest sprinkler we could find at just £5 and it worked exactly how we hoped – this is of course an element you could miss out if you didn’t want to purchase one – you could use water guns or soakers instead!
Coat Hanger and Beach Towel – If you don’t have a towel big enough to reach from your washing line to the car you have then fabric could work too
Pegs / Cable Ties / String / Duct Tape – Basically all the stuff that’s going to help you assemble your DIY Kids Car wash and make it a lot easier!
Extras – There are a few things we added that aren’t necessary but still fun – we added a car wash sign, we filled a spray bottle with some dish soap to make a ‘polish‘ at the end and a chassis cloth

So now you know what you’ll need to recreate your own car wash, let’s get into how to assemble the thing!

How To Assemble Your DIY Car Wash For Kids

Once you’ve gathered together everything that you will need, it’s time to start piecing it together – like I said it is really easy to do as it’s all attached to the washing line!

First things first you need to get out your washing line (it’s best to make this as taught as possible as the weight of things hanging will make it sag a little anyway) we used two poles at either end to help achieve a taught straight line and a beginning and an end
Next you’ll want to get started on your ‘shower‘ – for this you’ll need your hula hoop, shower curtain, some string, a stapler and either a tent peg or BBQ Skewer!

The 'Shower'

You’ll first need to attach the hula hoop to the washing line with some string (it won’t balance very well but we’ll come to that in a moment!) We used a little tape in the middle of the crossed over string to try and keep it level for the next part
Take your shower curtain and cut into strips (ours were about 2-3 inches wide – the thicker they are the less cutting involved!)
Fold over a little of the shower curtain strip on the hula hoop and staple in place – do one on either side of the hoop
Now that you have two strips opposite each other, you will want to put these into the ground using a tent peg or BBQ skewer (it was all we had!) as this will keep your shower upright and stop the hula hoop from tilting (be sure to put these to the sides so the toy car can still travel through and obviously supervise your child during the activity so as not to trip)
Cut the rest of the shower curtain into strips and attach as before (do not attach these to the ground)
Once you have filled the hoop with strips all around you will need to trim any excess so your child’s toy car does not get caught in the strips

The 'Rinse'

Using our £5 sprinkler we cable tied the hose pipe across the top of the washing line and attached it so that the sprinkler was overhead – this could of course be done in the same way using the sprinkler on the ground if you don’t want to attach it overhead – our kids did love this bit the best though!!

The 'Dryer' and 'Polishing'

To dry our tractor we pegged a beach towel to a coat hanger and simply hung the coat hanger on the washing line! Super simple!
And for the polish we added some dish soap and water to a spray bottle and provided a car chassis cloth to get it sparkling again!!

Your DIY Car Wash For Kids Is Now Ready For Play!

And that’s it!

For very little ones you might want to guide them through the car wash explaining each part:

First using a sponge, clean your car all over and get a sprinkling of bubbles over you and the car too!
Next head on through the shower to get even cleaner!
Then it’s time to rinse off the car as you drive through the sprinkler!
Now that the car is nice and clean you need to get nice and dry as you push through the towel!
And lastly you need to make that car shine with a little polish!!

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We had so much fun putting this together and playing at the car wash! It is great for imaginative play and will appeal to little ones so much!

We hope you have as much fun as we did – we’d love to see your photos if you do give it a go – you can send to us here and we can feature them on our social media!

Have fun with this awesome water play!

Louisa | Mum’s Creative Cupboard