Little kids seldom like to take a bath, because bath time means having to take a break from whatever it is they were doing, or that television program they were engrossed in, just to get clean. But, water play? Everyone likes that!

Here are eight fun ways to get your toddlers into the bathroom and excited about their baths.

1. Bubble bubble

A small bottle of bubble bath can go a lo-o-ong way. Fill a tub with warm water, add a capful of the good stuff, and let your child soak in the suds to their heart’s content.

2. Scoop and pour

Provide a pail full of various types and sizes of containers that your child can use to scoop up or collect water and transfer the water from one container to another. Think creatively – a wire sieve or coriander, a small cup, a big soup ladle and a plastic teapot could all be added to your stash.

3. Give the toys a bath

Self-explanatory. Dump all his plastic toys on the bathroom floor (think dinos, trucks, stacking cups etc), arm him with a little pail of water and a towel, and watch him go!

4. Squirt away

Depending on your parenting philosophies, you may or may not condone the use of toy guns. But squirting can be a lot of fun even without a water shooter! You can get lots of different fish or animal designs from the ever-enchanting Daiso. At just $2 for a bag of four, you’ll be spoilt for choice!

5. Bathe together

If you have more than one kid, having them bathe together not only saves you time, energy and water, it also ups the fun factor a whole lot! Little kids love to splish and splash around with their siblings – of course, you might get pretty wet in the process as well!

6. Go fish

Did you know that wet foam pieces stick to bathroom tiles? Well, now you know. You can get a pack of foam sheets from Popular or Art Friend. Cut out some fish shapes (or any shape you fancy, really) and let them float about in a large pail or bathtub. Your child can use a pair of tongs to pick up fish pieces, or catch them with a kid-size net (available from Daiso)! The caught “fish” can then be stuck onto the bathroom walls, while fishing continues.

7. Sing a fun song

Turn one of your child’s favourite songs into a bathtime ditty. For example, try this one: “You put your right foot in, you put your right foot out, you put your right foot in, and you shake it all about! You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around – that’s what it’s all about!” Or “Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream! Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.”

8. Building a tower

My boys love this. All you’ll need are lots of good quality plastic cups or small bowls. I say “quality” because it needs to be sturdy enough to stack atop each other and form a tower – you know like those wineglass pyramids you see at wedding dinner? Once you’ve built a nice, strong tower, pyramid-style, pour water into the top container, and watch it spill over and travel down to the floor…

By Dorothea Chow.

This article was first published in New Age Pregnancy.

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