At The Car Wash!

I run lots of birthday parties in The Craft Cabin but I get many more birthday girls then birthday boys popping in. So it’s always fun to try new ‘boy’ crafts.

We thought this Car Wash craft was the perfect craft for a tractor and car obsessed birthday boy. Here’s how we put it together..

I tore the flaps off three sides of a cardboard box. Using a Stanley knife I cut three sides out of the front so that the bottom that touches the table is intact and looks like a ramp for the cars when folded down.

I then painted the box. I used one plain colour but if time isn’t an issue you could have lots of fun painting designs.

I cut two tubes to the height of the box. We’ve lots of tubes from oilcloth fabric but you could use kitchen roll tubes. Speed was an issue for us so I didn’t paint them, but you could.

I then cut out felt in blue and yellow like you see at the real car wash. I cut it so the each length of felt encircled the tub and three of those lengths covered the height. I also cut a small piece of felt for each of the ramp doors. With all of the pieces of, I fringed them.

Tip: when getting kids to fringe felt or fabric, I draw a line at the top where they can cut to. It gives them a visual cue to stop with the scissors!

I stuck the fringe around each of the cardboard tubes and fluffed them up a bit. I then stuck the larger fringe pieces on the inside of the box, behind the ramps.

When the box was dry I drew arrows on the each of the ramps, to direct vehicles! Inside I drew dashed lines to keep the vehicles on the right path. On the outside of the, I drew in lots of buttons and a display screen. I made a big ‘Car Wash’ poster to stick to the flap I didn’t cut off the box. I also, did a smaller sign to stick to the front of the box.

I then popped in the circular washers and found me some dirty cars to wash!

As with all our birthday crafts, we’re conscious of time and the number and ability of the children. With older kids we prep less or with younger kids we make things simpler. With this craft,

With this craft, there are lots of glueing and colouring that wee ones can do on their own. And for older kids you can add in some extra features: using lolly pop sticks and cut up sponges to make long handled sponges for a manual wash• make a drying element by cutting some holes along the side of the box and sticking some

• using lolly pop sticks and cut up sponges to make long handled sponges for a manual wash
• make a drying element by cutting some holes along the side of the box and sticking some strips of bubble wrap or cling film around the hole. If you blow into the hole the bubble wrap strips or cling film will lift.

Have fun putting all your tractors, trucks and cars through the Car Wash!