Bath time doesn’t have to be a chore every night. You can actually use bath time to your advantage and do learning activities with your kiddos while they are playing.
My previous blog I showcased a glow-in-the-dark bath activity, but here are some more activities that you can do during this time:
- Flash cards – bath time is a perfect time to whip out some flash cards for whatever topic you want your child to work on such as: colors, letters, numbers, animals, food, shapes, vocabulary, etc.
- Random Objects – I recently purchased a little bag of different colored plastic ice cubes from the Target dollar section. Since then I have used them in the bath with twin two-year-olds as bath toys each night, and taught them their colors using these ice cubes. The kids love them because they float, but I use them like an I-spy game. I’ll say things like, “show me something red,” or “can you find something blue?” This can work with any objects that you want them to have in the bath, or you can have your child pick out various bath appropriate toys to use and say things like: “I spy with my little eye…a fire truck (something green, something with wheels, etc.)”
- Foam Blocks – We usually think of blocks as something that we play with on the floor, but foam blocks float in the bath, stick to the wall, and kids can use them to build with on the edge of the bath tub. This also gives you a good opportunity to go over some shapes with them.
- What Floats? What sinks? – Talk with your child before bath time, depending on their age, and ask them what types of objects they think will float or sink in the bath. Let them pick out different objects around the house to try in the bath one at a time to see if they guessed correctly.
- Which can hold more? – Let your child pick out different containers from the kitchen and have them guess which ones can hold the most, the same, or the least amount of water. Have them fill the containers and then dump the liquid into something that can be measured. See if they were right or wrong with their guesses!
These types of activities don’t need to be done every night, but a couple of times a week would help you spend quality time with your kiddo, as well as help them grow and learn in the process! Oh, and rotating different bath toys each week really helps their attention span in the bath!
