Genius! The Camping Solar Bathtub!
This really isn’t a craft or DIY home project, but I did “create” it and it was so helpful that I had to share!
We went camping at the beach last week and the absolute worse part was the nighttime showering routine with the kids. Kids get dirty while camping, but when camping at the beach getting all the sand out of their little nooks and crannies can be heinous!
It is enough to drive you crazy when you combine that with long lines for showers, trying to get the kids in and out before your shower tokens run out, trying to balance all your stuff on those tiny hooks so that they don’t touch the yucky floor, and yelling at your toddler to stop putting her mouth on the drain.
Luckily sitting at the beach with your kiddos gives you some time to think and I had the most amazing epiphany! A solar bathtub!
So the next day I got a large plastic storage container or a lidded storage bins. If you can, get a dark color so that it absorbs the heat better. We then filled it part way up with water. You don’t want it too full because you won’t be able to carry it back to your campsite and it won’t warm up as fast. We just filled ours about 4 inches. You really don’t need a ton of water.
Then we carried it back to the campsite, put the lid back on, and stuck it in the sunniest spot on the site. You will want to make sure you have the lid well secured because you don’t want it to be a drowning hazard. It also helps to have a rope or bungee cord wrapped around it. I didn’t want some curious child or squirrel getting in there! The lid also helps trap the heat inside so that the water gets warmer.
By the end of the day, the water was nice and warm. The tub was big enough that I was even able to bathe my five year old in it! There were no tears or screaming, and I was able to get my kids loads cleaner. After the bath, we just dumped the water down the drain by the campsite faucet. We even put up a little privacy curtain around it with the beach towels!
And when we packed up for home, I just stuck all our dirty, sandy stuff in there so it kept my car cleaner!
