Ideally, your baby or toddler should enjoy bath time as a soothing ritual. However, your little one might not enjoy bathing for one reason or another, whether they’re sensitive to the temperature change or just fussy. When your baby is screaming and crying during bath time, you’re definitely not going to be in a good mood. And if you’re not happy, neither is the baby. Luckily, there are ways to avoid this frustrating feedback loop. One great way to make bath time more fun is with bath toys! In this article, we’ve narrowed down 5 tips on keeping bath time fun. Keep reading to learn about the best bath toys for toddlers and babies!
1. Pick a Theme
Everything feels more exciting when it has a theme! Pick something your little loves, like mermaids, dinosaurs, or whatever excites them. It could be a character, an animal, hobby, or whatever captures their imagination. If you aren’t sure how to start, here are a few ways you can make bath time more fun with theming:
- If your baby loves animals, introduce bathtub toys like rubber ducks representing different animals. Use a themed bath mat with animal shapes, or use washcloths with animal prints.
- For kiddos fond of outer space, consider glow-in-the-dark stars on the bathroom ceiling and planet-shaped toddler bath toys.
- If they adore superheroes, opt for superhero-themed bath toys, towels, and even bath bombs with superhero figures hidden inside.
Tailoring the bath environment to their interests fosters excitement and engagement, turning routine bathing into a playful, personalized experience.
2. Play a Game
There are lots of different ways to gamify bath time! Incorporating games into a baby’s bath time can turn it into a playful and engaging experience. Here are some fun games for babies you both can play together:
- Splish Splash: This simple game involves pouring water from cups or containers, encouraging hand-eye coordination and sensory exploration.
- Floating Objects Seek: Hide floating toys and ask your baby to find them. This helps develop cognitive development and problem-solving skills.
- Bubble Pop: It’s time to pop some bubbles! Blow bubbles with gentle soap and encourage your baby to pop them on the water’s surface.
These games not only make bath time fun but also support your baby’s mental development in a safe environment.
3. Make Bath Time into Art Time
Even as babies and toddlers, kids love making art. What better way to make bath time entertaining than adding art into the mix? There are a couple different ways you can bring art into bath time, all of them surprisingly mess-free.
Finger paints are a fun activity for kids in general, so it’s natural they belong in the bath! With bath finger paints, toddlers can enjoy experimenting with different colors and patterns—they’ll love painting so much, they might just forget it’s bath time. And of course, these paints are bath safe. They’re actually soap, so they wash right off and keep your little one clean.
Another type of bath toys for kids are bath crayons. These crayons are chubby and have rubber grips, so they’re easy to hold. Your little one can scrawl to their heart’s content on the bath wall, and it will wash right off afterwards.
4. Incorporate Sensory Play
Sensory play is important for your child’s development. Learning through exploration and their natural curiosity helps to build new nerve connections in the brain, as well as encouraging the development of motor and language skills. Bath time can be a sensory experience all by itself, but some kids might need a little more. Luckily, there are lots of toys for newborns and up that can help!
Squirt and Squeeze Toys
These toddler toys are not only silly fun but also aid in developing hand-eye coordination. They suck in water and squirt it out, creating a playful water activity for babies. One of the most popular brands include Munchkin bath toys. With bright colors and cute characters, they offer a wide selection of squirt and squeeze toys to choose from.
Light up Bath Toys
Using light-up toys during bath time will delight and entertain your kiddo. These newborn toys, often designed with waterproof LED lights, create a mesmerizing experience for babies. The changing colors and glowing effects not only entertain, but also aid in sensory exploration and visual stimulation.
5. Have a Variety of Options
Sometimes kids, especially babies, can have short attention spans. When your baby won’t sit still or gets upset, It can help to have a plan B. Having other toys to offer your child is a good way to divert attention from whatever upset them. Keeping a variety of bath toys for toddler like storage by the bath and giving your child the option to pick their favorite also helps to make baths more appealing. Giving them choices will make them more willing to compromise during bath time.
Looking for toys for newborns or the very best bath toys? Toys Central has you covered! Shop now on all your child’s favorite toys and brands! Don’t forget to also check out our blog again soon for more tips and tricks on everything kid-related!