Monday, July 15, 2024
Can you believe that it’s July 15th already?
OH MY GOODNESS!
In our books that means summer is already half over!
😭
BUT…
it also means that there’s still lots of the season left to celebrate!
👏 👏 👏
Many of us will be caring for the Littles in our lives
during the next several weeks
and we are all looking for simple, fun and cost-effective activities
to keep them engaged!
Here at Our Grand Lives we’ve been busy
celebrating the summer season
with our posts focused on SUMMER FUN and SUMMER FAVES,
each featuring activities and adventures for Littles
from infancy through elementary school!
You may recall, that on occasional Mondays during the summer months
we share a SUMMER FAVE post
that highlights an activity, a recipe or an idea
- a brand new one or one we’re revisiting -
that we know is worth sharing with you all!
Today, we are revisiting a family favorite!
It's definitely a A SUMMER FAVE…
It’s an activity that will provide lots of entertainment for your Littles!
Last Thursday we shared our Wild About Water! post
where we shared 3 ideas to keep your Littles cool during these humid summer days!
Today’s activity is geared toward Littles who are preschool aged and older,
especially those who love to play with vehicles!
(Read on for ways to adapt this activity for those not interested in car play!)
Toddlers will also enjoy this activity
but may not have the attention span to stay at it very long!
(We've also provided our Toddler Tip for an appropriate alternative!)
A few years ago, Laurie set up this car wash for her great nephew!
She was going for something simple and this fit the bill!
The car wash only took a few minutes to put together
and required only a few items that were easily gathered from around her home!
To set up the car wash, I set out a “driveway” (bin lid), a bin with soapy water, a wire basket (so the water could flow through), and provided a scrubby brush, too.
My great nephew lined up his play vehicles on the “driveway”. Then, one at a time, he drove them into the soapy bin where he scrubbed each with a brush. This was a new toilet bowl brush that I found at a dollar store. A sponge or washcloth would work, as well.
Next the car moved into the rinsing station! We rinsed each car with a sprinkler attachment on a hose. You could also use a watering can or spray bottle.
Lastly, my Little lined the cars up at the drying station. (the black table)!
Don’t you wish YOU enjoyed washing your own car this much??
A GRAND Tip for Toddlers!
Last year, Little D (who had just turned 2)
didn’t quite understand the progression of the car wash yet…
NO WORRIES!
She was quite content with a bucket and washcloth as she washed her little wagon!
MORE WATER PLAY FOR OUR LITTLES!
WATER PLAY WITH SCOOPS, FUNNELS, FLY SWATTERS & MORE!
This activity was super easy to set up last year and provided quality play time as well as lots of pouring practice for one year old Little L!!
Laura filled a tub half full of water and then gave Little L some utensils she’d found around the kitchen - several sizes of scoops or measuring cups, a funnel, a slotted spoon, measuring spoons, a strainer and a whisk! Later, we even added a fly swatter (one we’d cleaned ahead of time 😉) and splashed away!
A GRAND Tip!
When filling a bin with water, add lukewarm water for young Littles!
Water that is too cold might shock them!
PIPE CLEANER FISH!
For this activity, Laura bent and twisted pipe cleaners to fashion colorful fish! We put the “fish” in a tub of water and added a strainer to the tub. Laura’s great niece, Little M, caught the fish, one by one! Since Little M was three years old, Laura challenged her by asking her to catch the blue fish, then the pink one, then 2 fish, and so on!
NOTE: Do you see the rocks in the tub, too? Before we started catching pipe cleaner fish, we went looking for rocks and washed them in the water! It was a FAVE!
WASHING TOYS!
Well, this was fun and another super easy activity to set up! Laura and Little L and then Little M kept returning to this activity, changing out what we washed… toy fruits and veggies, a baby doll and favorite farm animals! We used a sponge to wash our toys but you could use a washcloth or a brush, as mentioned earlier! You could even add a bit of soap or shaving cream for a bubbly experience! Use what you have! 😍
NOTE: You can also use a slotted spoon or spatula and transfer your toys from the tub of water to another container! This would be an excellent activity to support hand-eye development!
The activities highlighted above
were first shared in our Splish! Splash! post last summer!
In that post we also shared water play ideas for infants
and we included a collection of games to play with sponge balls!
We even show you how to make these fun water toys!
Have you ever made a car wash/washing station with Littles?
Do you have any creative suggestions for us?
If so, please share! You know we’d love that!
You can always comment at the end of a postOR you can email us privately at ourgrandlives@gmail.com
We’ll be back this Thursday, with a new weekly theme,,
Celebrating the Olympics!
We can’t wait to watch the Summer Olympics with our Littles!
What about YOU?
The fun begins on Friday, July 26!
In the meantime,
look for us to share reminders and new content regularly on social media!
SPECIAL THANKS TO
Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot from Marsha in the Middle
Thank you for featuring this post on your site!
❤ We love our blogging community! ❤
❤️ We are delighted to join the following link up parties and blog hops! ❤️
MONTHLY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
Summer water play fun is fantastic. When my girls were little if we didn't go to the pool, we played in the hose water, we had bins for them to play with their dollies and barbies in, slip n slide and such. These are awesome Summer faves at the car wash activities.
Thanks' bunches for sharing these water faves with Sweet Tea & Friend's July link-up.
Such lovely ideas for little ones! I think water play is so much fun for kids, my two have always enjoyed it. Wishing you both a lovely week ahead! :)
These ideas are so much fun! When my girls were toddlers, we loved water play so much. They would wash their little Barbie Jeep. It was fun and a great way to cool down during the summer. Thank you for sharing your fun ideas with us at The Crazy Little Lovebirds link party #47. We always enjoy your posts.
Steph@CrazyLittleLovebirds ♡
Such fun, thanks for sharing with us at SSPS, pinned for all to enjoy!
Such great fun! We had an old plastic boat. Used once on the lake, then became our sled in the winter. The follow summer I used silly putty to plug a hole and placed the boat under the bottom of the slipper slide. Draped the water hose sown the slide and made my own water slide. I was like ten at the time. Your post had me go down memory lane!
Take care and best wishes.
Debra | Gma’sPhoto
https://gmasphoto.website