Though we love ourselves a good car painting session, we hadn't really involved our cars in our sensory or small world play.  But we had so much fun with our Fizzy Foaming Car Wash a few weeks back that I just had to think up another car activity!  And thus Fizzy Car Rescue was created.

You see folks, those cars are stuck.  VERY stuck.  Lucky for them, I happen to know a little girl who is quite talented at rescuing, and subsequently washing, cars.

To create the rescue scenario, you'll need some matchbox cars (these are the $1 variety) and some baking soda.  If you're not familiar with making baking soda dough, I have a short tutorial with pictures in the beginning of my Fizzing Hidden Ocean World post.  I was all ready to go with some scented vinegar for the rescue when I saw Learn Play Imagine's post on Giant Kool Aid Eruptions and I learned that Kool Aid will react with baking soda the same as vinegar would (she has a great explanation in her post).  So I could just use plain Kool Aid to rescue our cars!  How cool is that? 

We decided to mix up some pink Kool Aid in two squeezy condiment bottles and blue Kool Aid in the other two bottles so we could add in a little color mixing.  I used one packet of Kool Aid per squeezy bottle and added water to fill; however we've done this activity since and I used a half-packet of Kool Aid per squeezy bottle and it worked just as well (and we could still smell the lovely scent).  

As S added the blue Kool Aid, I asked her what color mixing the "red" and the blue would make and she surprised me by correctly guessing purple!

Squeezy bottles are so great!  We use them all the time and they help hone those fine motor muscles - bonus!

It was so cool to see the bubbling and smell the delicious Kool Aid scents.  The baking soda dough began cracking very dramatically.

The whole time S was SO.  EXCITED.  She was concentrated and focused on RESCUING.THOSE.CARS.MAMA!!!!!

Once she'd used up all her Kool Aid, she began plucking the cars free.

Once they were all free, she scooped big handfuls of baking soda out into the bin with the overflow Kool Aid.  Some of the baking soda hadn't yet reacted and it bubbled and fizzed as she broke it up.

She used the baking soda "soap" to give the cars a thorough scrubbing.

Once she felt they were clean enough, she scooped the baking soda into small islands like she did when we played with Fizzy Rainbow Slush and had a good long imaginative scenario play out with her newly rescued and cleaned cars. 

As I mentioned above, though we did this activity a few days ago, we've already repeated it - it's a BIG hit around here.  It's super easy to set up and SO fun.  You could stick just about anything in the dough - dinosaurs, horses, etc, etc.  It's so much fun!  If you don't want to use scented products or don't have access to Kool Aid, vinegar works perfectly well instead.  :)

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All activities here are activities I feel are safe for my own children.  As your child's parents/guardians, you will need to decide what you feel is safe for your family.  I always encourage contacting your child's pediatrician for guidance if you are not sure about the safety/age appropriateness of an activity. All activities on this blog are intended to be performed with adult supervision.  Appropriate and reasonable caution should be used when activities call for the use of materials that could potentially be harmful, such as scissors, or items that could present a choking risk (small items), or a drowning risk (water activities), and with introducing a new food/ingredient to a child (allergies).  Observe caution and safety at all times.  The author and blog disclaim liability for any damage, mishap, or injury that may occur from engaging in any of these activities on this blog.