Wood Play Car

For the second half of 2024, my family lived in Argentina. We fell in love with the playgrounds in Buenos Aires, they are the best! At one of playgrounds, there was an awesome wood play car my kids and I were absolutely obsessed with. I knew I wanted to replicate it at home and since my parents have been in the process of redoing their yard we had the space for it. After we got home and I got a few other small projects done, I knew it was time to make THE car!

Wood Play Car | Tires

I knew I wanted real tires on this car so I started looking around, trying to figure out a place where I could get some used tires. I ended up putting a call out on my Instagram stories and one of my daughter's teachers reached out and said they had some tires that were left in the yard of their new house.

I cleaned all of them really thoroughly and decided I was going to seal these so water, debris and animals couldn't get inside them. I took two pieces of scrap wood and traced the largest part where a rim would go, creating wooden rims for my tires. Once all the circles were traced, I used my circular saw to cut each circle so it was its own individual piece of wood, which would make it easier to cut with my jigsaw. Then I used my jigsaw to cut out all of the circles individually. Once those were all cut, I then sanded each circle down so they were smooth and completely round.

In order to secure the circle rims to the tires I used some screws I had on hand and drilled them into the actual tires. I discovered it was easier to do a pilot hole and then screw it in because tires have a metal mesh that goes through them so that they are nice and secure. I used a clear silicone to seal the wood to the tires with a caulk gun all the way around. Once it dried, I flipped them over and did it on the other side as well. Then it was time to start on the actual car.

Wood Play Car | Framing and Securing

I used ground contact pressure treated wood for the rest of the project. I started by building the frame. It's 8 ft long by 45 in wide, and I used deck screws to secure the boards together. I used three boards in the middle for additional support and the frame is made out of 2x4s. Once that was done, I started attaching 1x6 boards to the top to give me a good base to use. This is where those additional three support boards came in really handy because it gave me five different boards to secure the top part to. Once this base was all made, I started securing the tires to it. I didn't think about this until after I already put the top boards on and realized the best way to do this was to remove the two most outside boards on each side and then screw the tires into the frame from inside. The frame wasn't a huge deal, but sometimes this happens while I'm doing projects and I've learned to just roll with it.

Next, I started building the front part of the car. I'm building a box using 1x6 boards then two smaller sides, and then the front and the back, which are going to be the bigger sides. In order to do this, I took four 1x6 boards and joined them together with pocket holes. I did this four times for each side and then attached the sides to the base. For the first side, I attached it using pocket holes to the base at the very bottom. Then I attached the tire to this side as well, using deck screws. I really wanted to ensure that it was secure so the front tires are attached to this front box piece, which is also attached to the base.

I then attached the other side piece to the base and the other tire and then started attaching the front and back pieces to the base using pocket holes. I then attached the two side pieces using screws I drilled through the side of the box. This might have been a little bit of overkill, but considering we live in southeastern Tennessee with intense storms and tornadoes, I didn't want it getting picked up and blown around in the wind at all. I decided the front box of the car would make a great storage area, which I love so it's not just dead space. Then, I started making the benches for the car.

Wood Play Car | Benches and Storage Box

Like the original in Argentina, I created two benches. I made those benches with a simple 2x4 frame the same width as the car with a support piece in the middle. I then added legs to each bench. On the back bench I did nine inch legs on so that it was tall enough an adult could sit back there comfortably. I secured the bench to the base using pocket screws in the legs, but I also secured it to the back tires because those weren't secured to anything quite yet. For the seat I used 1x6 boards that were the same length as the bench. I used two and secured them to the frame using deck screws.

For the backs of the benches, I used 1x1 pieces I had leftover from another project. I used deck screws and secured those to the bottom frame of the bench, and then used more 1x6 boards for the back part of the bench. I used two 1x6 boards and secured the back bench first, so I knew where I was going to put the front bench since I wanted to make sure there was enough leg room in the back as well as enough room to walk between the back and front benches. Then I was able to place the front bench and secure it using pocket holes and screws to the base. So yet again, this is not going anywhere.

Then it was time for all the fun details to make it look like an actual car. The front of this was looking really messy because you could see the frame and the base and all of that. I took another 1x6 board, cut it to the width of the car and screwed it to the front to make it look like a bumper.

Then I wanted to finish off the storage box. I trimmed down the outer pieces so they're at an angle, which made it look more realistic. Using my circular saw, I trimmed down the two side pieces at an angle down to two inches at the most. On the very front piece, I trimmed off two inches total so that it was two inches shorter than the back. Before installing the lid, I placed a piece of wood on the outside of the box right in front of the front bench. I used 2x4 blocks cut at a 45 degree angle so this piece could sit on top and be screwed into them, and then they would be screwed into the box. This serves as the dashboard and is where I put the steering wheels.

Wood Play Car | Final Touches

I got the steering wheels from a local playground company called Creative Cedar Designs. We loved the color options and they were only $12 each. I wanted input from my daughter so once I put the steering wheels in, I had her sit in the car and tell me what she thought. The first thing she told me was that she wanted a gas pedal. I used some scrap wood and put in two gas pedals, one by each steering wheel so both kids could have one. Obviously they aren't functional, but it was fun to have them.

It was important to install the dashboard and the steering wheels first before installing the lid of the storage box because I needed to make sure they didn't interfere with the storage box lid closing. I attached three hinges to the inside of the lid and then attached the lid to the box. I will say after I attached the lid and played with it a little bit, I didn't love how insecure the lid felt. I felt like the pocket holes and the screws weren't keeping it completely together, and it was going to have a lot of movement. I got some scrap pieces and secured them to the inside of the lid, perpendicular to the lid boards. This made the lid very heavy which would make it hard for kids or critters to get into. I found the center of the box and then centered a handle on that point. I took a few more pieces of scrap wood and spray painted black, made sure they were all the same length, let them dry. I also took bigger scrap pieces and painted them white and secured them to the front as headlights. I attached them using a brad nailer and a level to make sure they were at the same point.

Making the grill of the car was a little complicated. I had to secure it from the inside of the box since the boards were so thick. It was definitely more complicated than I wanted it to be, but I made it work. One of the cool things about this box that is it big enough to fit an old Little Tykes wagons. My parents have one in the yard, and my mom wanted to keep it a little bit more protected than it has been and it turns out that it fit perfectly! I also added a tray onto the front bench so that the back bench had a place to put snacks and drinks. These little touches are part of what make it so amazing.

I absolutely LOVE the final product! My kids and I both are absolutely obsessed with it. This turned out to be a pretty cool project and can really be replicated anywhere, so stay tuned for build plans so you can recreate it in your own yard!