Friday 6 June 2014

Bath time fun

AKA one of the only perks of being a working parent...


So having a full-time job and being a mum is always a delicate balancing act and I really miss having quality time with Doof when I am working long shifts. However about half of my shifts do let me be home for bath time so I love making that time extra special – as we have to pack our whole day’s fun into only 15 minutes I really enjoy thinking of different ways to make D’s baths more interesting than just a regular plain bath…

Here are some ideas we’ve used recently:

  1. Bubbles
This is one of the most simple ways to have fun in the bath but still provides so much entertainment :) Doof enjoys making bubble towers, giving himself a bubble facemask and wiping a bubble beard off Daddy.


  1. Building blocks
We got these foam building blocks from JoJoMamanBebe and they are brilliant in the bath. They float, stick to the side of the bath and stick to each other so you can stack them up into towers or build a house. They’re also soft but firm so nice for teething babies to chew and don’t hurt if your toddler gets a bit boisterous and throws them around! At the moment Doof mainly likes to pretend to knock on the front door block (maybe a sign he watches too much Postman Pat?!!) and destroy any towers we make. But this is definitely a toy that will grow with him as he gets older and is more interested in building stuff up and creating things.


  1. Crayon
We got these bath crayons from Walmart when we were last in the States and they are awesome. We are definitely going to stock up on both these and the paints below when we next go back :) They are easy for Doof to hold, he enjoys the range of colours, they float, don’t disintegrate if left in the water and they easily wipe off the side of the bath. In the last few months D has started to really get into scribbling on paper so these are a natural extension for him to use in the bathroom.


  1. Painting
It may sound slightly scary to encourage your toddler to get even more messy at bathtime when you are trying to get them clean before bed but don’t worry about it… letting Doof paint himself actually encourages him to be cleaner as he then washes himself really thoroughly with his flannel afterwards! The bath paints came in a pack with 3 primary colours and don’t irritate Doof’s skin even though it is pretty sensitive.


  1. Coloured water
We have some water colour tablets from Crayola – they come in a range of colours and just one turns the bath water a really vivid colour. It does say on the box be careful about colour staining but we haven’t had that problem on either the bath. Doof’s skin or the towels. Next I’m going to try mixing these with bubbles and see if we get coloured bubbles :)


These are also going to be great for doing this when it gets hotter this summer :)
 
  1. Letters
These foam letters came from Tesco and were super cheap. When he was younger Doof enjoyed chewing them, as he got older he enjoyed sticking them to the side of the bath and to himself and as he gets even older we’ll have fun spelling out words with them.


  1. Glowsticks
So my mistake when first using these was not realising that on a summer’s evening there would be too much light coming through the bathroom window… but after Daddy managed to somehow drape a towel over the window the bathroom became dark enough for the fun to start :) Doof loves the different colours, how they light up the water and his skin but most of all how he can wear the smaller ones as bracelets! When we first put these in the bath he stayed in for ages and didn’t want to get out at the end!

  
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So what next? I recently saw this and can’t wait to try it! I just need to convince my OH that we really do need a blacklight…

Do you have any bathtime activities your toddler loves doing? We’re always looking for new and different things to try :)


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