Car Cleaning Checklist - Teach Kids How to Clean A Car

This checklist is the perfect way to teach kids how to clean a car.

Like so many other people, every spring I get the itch to clean and de-clutter everything I own! This year I’ve been feeling an extra push to teach my kids how great it can feel to work hard and do a good job cleaning! They already have Saturday chores, but they are getting old enough that my husband and I decided they are ready to learn how to help with a few more jobs, and the first one we decided to tackle was car cleaning!

Learning to clean out a car and car detailing is very simple once you break it down into steps.

How to teach kids to clean a car

Gather your supplies! I decided to make this cute checklist (download and print your own below) and gather all the supplies in one bucket to make it extra simple for my kids to tackle cleaning the car each week.

Bounty Paper Towels have been added to the list because they are our FAVORITE. We literally use them for everything. They are super durable and seem to last forever.

Car Cleaning Supplies:

Now that you have all the supplies you need it’s time to get to work! We’ve found that when it’s warm, our kids love getting in their swimsuits and getting out the hose to wash the exterior of the cars – so we do that part last as a reward. ☺

Car Cleaning Tricks:

Take out any car seats and mats before cleaning.
Work from the top down. We have the kids clean the windows first using window cleaner and the Bounty Quick-Size Paper Towels. Next, use the leather cleaner, interior car cleaner, and your paper towels to wipe down the seats, dashboard, etc. This way you can push all the crumbs to the floor before you vacuum!
When you are vacuuming, move the seats all the way forward and then all the way back, so that you can get all areas to the best of your ability.
Use a plastic credit card with a Bounty paper towel sheet folded over it to get hard-to-reach creases and crevices.
Keep a can of air freshener in your car door to spray when you’re done. You can spray it anytime there is an unwanted smell or before guests ride in your car, and it will last a lot longer than a car air freshener!

Since the kids have to help with the car cleaning now I have already noticed a difference in how hard they try to keep it clean during the week. Funny how that works, isn’t it?!

Click Here to Print the Car Cleaning Checklist

xo,