Following on from our last post all about the importance of Independent Play for both little ones and parents alike – this post is all about fun ideas for bathtime!

Baths are a great way to end the day and help your little one to unwind and process their day – just like they can be for us too.

This is a strange post for me to be writing as for me as a parent I have always found bathtime to be a bit of a chore – some people love them but I always aimed to get the child in and out as quickly as possible! I can’t be the only one??

However, I recognised that it was an integral part of our bedtime routine when they were little (it still is now but they are a lot more independent!) And making bathtimes fun was a way to make them more enjoyable for me and them!

These activities are all super easy to do with very little set up but really help to mix up bathtime a bit!

6 Fun Bath Time Activities For Toddlers

Duplo Bath

If you’ve never tried Duplo in the bath – (or with any type of water play) then you should really should!

It’s amazing how Duplo becomes a new toy all over when you put it in the bath!

Watching it float on the bubbles and sink as you build an underwater house!

This is a great colour sorting opportunity – if you have a bath toy net then why not try collecting all the green bricks (make it extra tricky with LOADS of foamy bubbles!)

Pom Pom Bath

And the humble pom-pom makes yet another appearance!

It is so satisfying to pour a tub of pom-poms into a bath! The more water they absorb the more they sink – which makes this a great fine motor skills activity – try squeezing all the water out and see if they will float again on the surface!

You could use a ladle or spoon to scoop up the pom-poms and fill a jug with as many as you can scoop out of the bath!

When you are done just squeeze as much water out as you can and then place them on a wire cooling rack that you would use for baking and they soon dry ready for next time!

Foam Numbers Bath

We had foam letters and numbers in our bath time play for years – they are so easy and so much fun!

You can practice number and letter recognition sticking them to the side of the bath – this always fascinated my kids to see how they clung to the bath and the tiles on the wall!

They are also fun for scooping and playing hide and seek in the bubbles as they float

Bottle Cap Search Bath

This is another great scooping activity!

(Be sure to check for any sharp edges before putting your child in the bath)

We have a little pot of bottle tops on our kitchen window sill because you just never know when they’ll come in handy!

Watching the water pool into the shallow lids is fun and we used a sieve with this activity to ‘fish’ for bottle caps – you could stick some cut-out orange foam fish on top of them and take the pretend play a step further!

Tea Bath

Now I actually came up with this idea by accident! I was testing out food colourings and then realised that I could achieve this colour with an actual teabag!

(Be sure to check for allergies before putting your child in this tea bath)

It sounds a bit weird but tea baths are a thing – and this is inspired by the story of The Tiger Who Came To Tea – it’s a pouring station but in the bath!

You don’t have to put tea in the bath though – this makes for a great activity with a teapot and some cups, jugs, bottles or anything that pours!

Cloudy Foam Bath

There’s something just brilliant about a really foamy bath!

I love this ‘cloud’ bath which was achieved with children’s foam soap

We grabbed some pipettes and had fun making droplets of rain with our blue bath – this is easily achieved with coloured bath fizzers and our safe to use with children (once checked for allergies)

Bath Time Fun

So there you have it, 6 fun bath time activities to try with your little ones at bedtime using Duplo bricks, craft Pom-poms, bathtub Foam Numbers, recycled Bottle Tops, toy Teapots, and children’s Soapy Foam!

I hope you have lots of fun with these!

Happy Bath Time!

Louisa | Mum’s Creative Cupboard