Make Bath Time Fun for Kids

When the "Do we have to" whining gets too much, it's time to put the fun back into "bath time fun". This article presents a few tried and true solutions. If you're lucky, your kids might even like your ideas!

Steps

  1. Ask your kids what they enjoy doing in the bath. Take their advice to heart and stock up on the things they love for bath time. Suitable fun items for bath time include:
    • Bath toys
    • Bath stickies and foam creatures or shapes
    • Bubble bath
    • Floating objects, such as a ball, toys, bottle, etc.
    • Soap crayons
    • Animal washcloths
    • Bubble blowing gear.
  2. Play races. Have the children choose favorite toy boats or other floating objects. Place the boats at one end of the bath and count down: Ready, Set, Go! They're only allowed to make small waves to move the boats to the other end. The first one there is the winner.
    • Wind-up boats or toys suitable for bath use can make races a lot of fun too. Have each kid wind them up together and release them at the same time to save fights. If there's only one kid, have two wind-ups going against each other (one could be yours).
  3. Sit down next to your kids at the bathtub and talk to them about how animals take a bath or keep clean. Tell them that they have to be in the bath before you'll start talking. Then start talking about the different ways that animals keep clean. For example, rhinos need help from a special bird to pick the bugs off the rhino's hide, chimpanzees have other chimps pick dirt off their fur, zebras and horses roll around in the dirt, cats lick themselves clean, and elephants bathe in dust or water. Think of different ways to turn this into a game, such as:
    • Have the kids choose 5 new animals at the end of each bath for you to talk about at the next night's bath; you can quickly research the answers online.
    • Have the kids imitate the cleaning movements of the animals they're learning about.
    • Try to match the same animals with toy plastic animals for the kids to pretend to "clean".
    • Follow their cues for fun game ideas.
  4. Make a fun bath sponge. This craft can be the prelude to the bath. Spend time making it together, then run the bath and have your kids try out their funky new toy. Here's how to make it:
    • Find a fairly wide plastic tube. One end is covered and the other is not. Use a small plastic hook with a small hole at the bottom of it big enough to fit some string.
    • Cut two slits in the tube, about a centimetre long, and do the same on the opposite side.
    • Grab a piece of paper or card and fold it up so that it's as wide as the tube and {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} longer than the tube. Place it in firmly, into the box.
    • Make a hook. Cut out two identical circles, make sure they have holes in the centre.
    • Wrap some wool around it, (a bit like making a pom-pom – if you know how to make a pom-pom, make one.)
    • Keep on wrapping it until it becomes fatter than a doughnut. Wrap a {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} length wool, through the hole in the pom-pom, and make sure these are equal length, at the top when you stretch it.
    • At the top, twist the lengths of wool and poke them through the hole in the hook, tie a knot, if there is some spare just cut it off. The bath sponge is done.
    • With the paper or card in the tube, fill each side with coloured liquid. Add some water to make it nice and bubbly. Now the fun starts!
    • With the sponge, dip it in the tube and then get going. Let your kids do whatever they want. If they draw on the tiles or wall next to the bath, simply wipe it off.
  5. Make bath slime. Another fun craft to get the kids really excited about bath time! Put together 1 packet of unflavoured gelatin (about 1 tablespoon), 1/2 cup lemon juice, 4 drops of green food colouring, a microwave-proof container, and a small plastic container.
    • In a microwave-proof container, add the gelatin, lemon juice, and food colouring.
    • Put into the microwave. Heat on high for 45 seconds to 1 minute.
    • Remove it from the microwave once the gelatin has dissolved. Place the container in the refrigerator for half an hour. This will allow it to set.
    • Spoon the slime into a plastic container. A clean yogurt or margarine container are ideal. Take it to the bathroom.
    • Tell your kids they're allowed to be green slimy monsters. Have them smear it all over themselves while the bath is filling up. Suggest they scare the bath toys while they're being green monsters.
    • Once they've had enough fun being green monsters, it's into the bath with a washcloth and soap. The green slime will rinse off.
  6. Change the colour of the bath. Kids love baths that are different colours. Use food colouring to make the bath blue, orange, green, pink, etc. Commercial coloured fizzy bath tablets made just for kids' baths are also fun if you can locate some.
  7. Have fun with the bar of soap. For a kid, soap is more than just an item to get clean with!
    • Play "Find the soap". Drop the soap into a bath filled with bubbles. Now have your kid try to find it – without using his or her hands!
    • Rub the soap into a huge lather and let your kid make a beard or moustache from it.
    • Let your kid carve his or her initials into the soap. This can be their soap for the week.
    • Suggest that your kid try to hold the soap in any number of ways apart from in their hands. Between their feet, under the arm, in the crook of their elbow, etc. This one's a lot of fun!
    • Use the soap for skimming across the bath, in the same manner as skimming stones on ponds.

Tips

  • Have the kids make their own bubble baths, such as chocolate bubble bath or Make Vanilla Bubble Bath. They'll be racing you to try it!
  • Squirt toys are always a big bath success. Stock up on a few. As the child grows older, add a target circle at one end of the bath for target practice.
  • For the bath sponge exercise: If you cover a lolly stick in a sandwich bag or cling film, you can use that to draw finer objects. You can make as many slits as you want in the tube. You can also fill in the liquid parts with food colouring.

Warnings

  • Always supervise younger children because liquid, if swallowed, can be dangerous.
  • Never leave children unsupervised in a bath.

Things You'll Need

  • Items to make the bath sponge
  • Animal stories
  • Bath toys
  • Bubble bath

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