muddy car wash

Oh, we’re loving our wet and messy play now that the summer weather has arrived.  Did you pop by yesterday?  Did you see the baby bath station that we had set up in the backyard?  We set it up again today because it was such a hit, and because a couple of the Hooligans don’t attend on Thursdays and they missed out on the fun.

But today, I added another awesome, wet, messy, sensory activity today that kept them busy all morning again!  Behold the mud-pit/car wash!

I turned our wagon into a mud pit by mixing up some potting soil, several scoops of sandbox sand, and a bucketful of water.  (you can see how we’ve used a wheel-barrow to make an even larger, mobile mud-pit)

Then several feet below and away from the wagon, I placed a large basin filled with soapy water, and I ran our hot-wheels tracks from one to the other.

I set some cars up at the mud-pit and called the gang over.  You can probably guess how popular this activity was.  They LOVED it!

The basin of water didn’t stay clean for long, but that made things even more fun; they had to search around in the black water to find their cars, and the cars didn’t exactly zoom down the track with all that mud either, but the Hooligans didn’t even seem to notice.  They were happy to push them along until they reached their destination.

Now, be prepared: your little one COULD get very dirty.  I’m not saying he or she will.   In fact, a couple of the Hooligans stayed quite clean. Even Miss Mess wasn’t too bad, although I did give her clothes a soapy rinse before sending them home.

This little guy however…

Look at him!  Think he had fun?  Oh yeah!  And it was so cute: I set out a big bowl of water for them to wash up in when they were finished, and he did – he washed his hands until they sparkled and then came running over to me, proudly shouting “I’m clean, I’m clean!”, and looking like this:

Yup sure, little guy.  Whatever you say!

I feel I need to share this next photo for those of you who might be horrified by the state of his clothing.  I tossed them onto the grass (the clothes, not the kids), sprinkled them with some dish soap, and gave them a blast with the garden hose.  In less than a minute, they looked like this.  

See….  don’t let a little dirt scare ya!  Let them get messy!  They’ll love you for it!  And of course, if you’re looking for a cleaner-but-still-messy alternative to this activity you can always do this version of a car-wash.

mobile mud-patch (and other glorious muddy activities)

We’ve made a lot of mud pies in our day, and it’s always great fun.  I mix up a bucket of the black stuff using 2/3 potting soil, 1/3 sand, and a generous splash of water, and we usually just put down a plastic table cloth or large sheet of cardboard and get straight to work.

We use old kitchen utensils for scooping and mashing and splatting, and we decorate our pies with flowers, stones, pinecones, sticks etc..  A fun way to kick off the activity is to give each child a bag or bucket, and head out on a neighbourhood treasure hunt, collecting “ingredients” for decorating.

This year, we took mud play to a new level after I found Let the Children Play, and discovered all the different ways that Jenny and her readers had their children playing with mud.  Their mud kitchens and mud pits had me green with envy, and got my wheels turning.

Our yard doesn’t have a mud patch, and I didn’t think my family would appreciate me converting part of the yard into one, so I improvised and hauled out the old wheel-barrow just in time for International Mud Day.

We filled that wheel-barrow up with a healthy helping of mud and added shovels, scoops trucks and diggers.  A piece of wood for a ramp, and ta-da…we had a quarry.  I placed a short plank across one end of the wheel-barrow, and put out utensils, dishes, sticks, flowers, stones etc. and that served as a counter for creating pies and cakes.

I wanted the children to have access to water as they needed it, but a blast from the garden hose into the mud can be a little disastrous, so I brought out the water-jug that we take camping.  The spigot was easy enough for even the littlest hands to turn off and on, and the Hooligans LOVED having complete control over “running water” in their play area.

Another great idea that I borrowed from a post I saw on Let the Children Play, was a “brick-laying” activity.  We’ve had a stack of old bricks sitting behind our shed for years.  I set a bunch of them out on a vinyl table cloth with trowels and spatulas and a big bowl of mud, and the kids had a blast slapping on the mud, and stacking the bricks.

Even my own great big Hooligans got in on some of the action.

Playing in the mud, and getting dirty are such an important and unforgettable part of childhood.  There’s nothing quite like the feeling of squishing your toes in it, and squeezing it through your fingers, and for little ones, there’s always the thrill that comes with simply getting messy.

Drop us a line and let us know how your little ones play with mud.  We’d love to hear how you have fun getting messy in your yard!

sensory bins

Pop-poms, cotton balls, beads and tinsel. Add some coloured badminton birdies for "cones" and some scoopers and tongs for dishing up the "ice-cream".

Ice Cream Shoppe Sensory Bin

popcorn kernels and construction vehicles

Construction Sensory Bin with Popcorn

articifical flowers, plastic rocks, colourful scraps of ribbon and tissue paper are good makings for a flower shop or garden sensory bin. Add little containers for "planting".

Flower Shoppe Bin

water, food colouring and some toy boats, people and animals makes for fun water play

Ocean Sensory Bin (after the snow in the bin melted we added food colouring)

Spelling with Sand and Stones

Bring the snow inside when it's too cold to go out. The kids had a great time with it as the consistency changed in the warm kitchen. Once it melts they have a water bin to play in.

Snow Sensory Bin