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size
We started out in one of the self-serve bays as we let each
of them have their turn at spraying the high pressure gun. We
held onto the wand and aimed it at the wall while they did this.
We then turned on the foaming brush and they went crazy. Their
was foam everywhere. They were picking it up off the ground and
throwing it all over. One little boy was like, "Look, it looks
like ice cream!" Then we showed them the back of the coin box
and explained where quarters went when they were inserted and
tried to throw in some environmental things throughout.
We had them look into the pit at all the grime and explained
about what happens to water when you wash it at a pro carwash
vs. home car washing. After we left the bay we circled around
to the bill changer and they got something out of the electronic
vending machine, which you would've thought they had never seen
a machine so cool. Then we went to the vacuum island and turned
a vac on as the kids felt it.
They thought that the air freshener machine was pretty cool.
We had to spray some on each of their hands. We have huge windows
all along the side of our exterior tunnel, so we opened all the
windows and the kids walked along the side of the building and
watched a few cars go through the automatic. Which you are close
enough standing outside the window to get wet, so they thought
that was pretty cool. After they watched then we took them inside
the tunnel.
We closed up for about 20 minutes so we could take them through
uninterrupted, but it was worth it and people were more than understanding.
We decided to explain about 10 key pieces of the equipment and
named each one. We told them that they were now going to meet
the team that makes all the stuff work together. So we started
out with "Carl the Conveyor" and explained what his job was. We
had colorful signs we held up as a new piece was introduced.
The Kids were just waiting to see what the next one was going
to be and were trying to guess names for it, so that went over
pretty good. The other ones we had were Ernest Eyeball (photo
eye), Marvin the Mitter, Foaming Phil, Wilma the Waxer, Randy
the Rinser, Wally Wrap-Around, Terry the Tire Brush, and Dudley
the Dryer. We turned on the triple foam arch and the kids went
wild. We started first with just one color coming out and then
added the others. The kids had foam everywhere.they were having
a ball though. They felt the neoglide and the mitter curtain material.
We turned on the rain arches so they could feel/see those as well,
and explained how much water we use vs. home carwash.
They jumped back and forth in front of the photo eye to make
the door go up and down at the end. After the tunnel we took them
through the equipment room and then we had an experiment outside
about hard vs. soft water and tested the pH levels of various
chemicals. The kids were actually really interested in this. I
wasn't sure how it would hold their attention, but it definitely
did. They are smart little cookies. They had a lot of questions.
I think that the parents chaperoning enjoyed it just as much.
They had questions of their own to ask.
Before they took off we gave them goodies bags that included
a carwash activity book we got from the Midwest Carwash Association,
a calendar, pen, two suckers, neoglide sample, air freshener,
and a free carwash. We sent them through the tunnel with their
chaperones very last so they could see all the stuff they just
learned about in action.
We also put a welcome message to their class on our sign in
front of the building the day of. They thought it was so cool
and all the chaperones had to get a picture of the class in front
of it. Hopefully that aroused some interest in those driving by
that read the sign.
We received thank you notes from their entire class the next
day. They definitely went home and got the message to their parents.
And it looks like the foam was by far the most popular hands-on
activity. All in all it was a great field trip! Hopefully we can
interest some other school classes in the area and do more of
these!
