Bike and Scooter Wash
Physical DevelopmentPersonal, Social and Emotional DevelopmentCommunication and LanguageUnderstanding the World
What you need
- a bucket of warm soapy water
- a bucket of clean water
- two sponges
- an old cloth for drying
- their scooter, trike or balance bike
How to do it
- Park the bike or scooter on a path or patio, well away from the road, and set the buckets beside it.
- Ask your child to fetch the sponges and the cloth and decide which bucket each one goes in.
- Wash from the handlebars down to the wheels, then rinse with the clean water.
- Dry it off with the cloth and look for any muddy bits you both missed.
Why it matters
Washing their own bike is a real job from start to finish, with water and bubbles as the reward for doing it.
What they're learning
- Seeing a job through
- Wash, rinse, dry: three steps in order, with a clean bike to show for it.
- Big arm work
- Scrubbing a wheel takes strength and big sweeps of the arm.
- Choosing the tool
- Sponge for the soapy bucket, cloth for drying, and a reason for each.
What to look for
Watch for them going back to a muddy spot without being asked.
A tip
Stay with them the whole time near the buckets, keep the water just warm, and tip it away as soon as you finish.
Make it easier or harder
Easier: wash just the wheels, one each, and see whose is shiniest
Harder: open a wash for the toy cars too, with a queue and a sign, and let them run it
