Home » Family » Tips for Helping Kids Enjoy Bath Time

Tips for Helping Kids Enjoy Bath Time

2011_12_25_2181

My kids are not the type to jump at the chance to take a bath. Luckily these tips for helping kids enjoy bath time keep bath time happy in our house:

Tips for Helping Kids Enjoy Bath Time

  • Have a bath schedule. Knowing when to expect a bath helps kids feel like they have some control over the situation.
  • Let them pick a small toy or two to bring in the tub with their bath toys. Small plastic figurines are popular in our house, although I don’t allow Lego people or other pieces that have openings water can get into.
  • Use craft foam to make bath murals – I got this trick from Filth Wizardry. Hooray for awesomely creative bloggers! I’ve substituted foam stickers in a pinch.
  • We have found this Kids Shampoo Rinse Cup to be a worthwhile investment – although I’m pretty sure we didn’t pay the Amazon price for it. And, as at least one reviewer there noted, your kid has to tilt their head back for it to work (we tell our kids to look at the ceiling).
  • Temporarily turn up the thermostat a degree or two in the winter. Especially if you keep your house in the upper 60s, like we do.
  • Add some color. You can buy colored bath tablets, but we use a few drops of plain old food coloring. It keeps the kids entertained and (so far) has not stained our tub – or our children!
  • Remember that this is a stage children outgrow! They most likely will not hate baths forever!

What are your favorite bath time tips and tricks?

What are your tips for a helping kids enjoy bath time? Share your recommendations, on my Facebook page, or by tagging me on Instagram. We would love to see photos if you use this tutorial to build a tiny clay house of your own! 

MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.

24 thoughts on “Tips for Helping Kids Enjoy Bath Time”

  1. ADORABLE picture. SO sweet.

    My daughter has a real fear of water on her face. She loves the bath now that raucous brothers aren’t involved. That said, she now lays on the kitchen counter to have her hair washed in the sink. It totally took the fear out of bath time.

  2. Awesome tips. We have duck stickers lining the top of our shower. We ask our 2 yr old to “Look up to the ducks.” This also works with stars or anything your child likes. I also have J “help” shampoo and soap himself. I do all of the work quickly, and he’s occupied with helping. We also make “crazy hair” with shampoo (spikes, mohawks, etc) and of course show it off with a portable mirror.

  3. Ohhhhhh! My kids are exactly the types to jump in the bath at any chance and they literally do! Sometimes without me knowing it beforehand! The night we moved in here, they got undressed and hopped in the large quarter-circle-shaped bathtub the moment they first saw it. :) For me it is more of a challenge to stay relaxed when they want to have bath playtime once again because there is a lot of post-work in it for me (mopping up, getting things out of the splashing zone, seeing to it that they get dressed quickly afterwards… now in the winter, …).

  4. This is a cute picture! No real suggestions here – daughter has gotten over her dislike of bath at the age of about 2 years and never went back. She loves playing in the bath making up stories with her fish friends (dollar store pack) or dinosaur puppets (another $1 at Target). She also has water flutes but doesn’t use them much (luckily, since the racket is anything but melodic).

  5. We used to have the same shampoo cup. I got it at TRU. Now I just use a regular large plastic cup.

    Abby likes to take all kinds of things into the tub. My tip is to be sure to wash the toys regularly with bleach water.

  6. My children enjoy bath time, though they outgrow the bath and move onto showers so quickly. I can still remember my three older boys bathing together when they were little…now they are young adults. Thankfully I still have littles around…an advantage to a large family!

  7. I have made homemade bath paint in the past. My kids also like bath crayons. I used to read to the kids while they were in the tub too. I have bath time with K to enjoy now, but the older three all take showers now. Once in a while, R enjoys a bubble bath, but that is a rare treat.

  8. One of my relatives sells Avon, so we have a gigantic supply of bath paint. We can draw funny pictures on our girls and, since it’s also a soap, they have fun getting it off while getting clean at the same time. (This is a nice alternative to bubble bath, which I try not to use very often). On the nights we wash hair, I do showers instead of baths. In their bathroom we have one of those detachable shower heads so it’s easier to rinse off the girls. They actually ask to take baths now so they can have some “play time” in the tub!

  9. Cute picture!! My kids have enjoyed bath time ever since we figured out the right temperature for the water. :) We use one of those shampoo rinse cups, too. Very helpful. Our bath toys are on the super simple side: a cup, three bottles that have been emptied via many previous baths of the bath soap that was in them, and a “temperature frog” that shows the water temperature.

  10. JC hates getting out of the warm bath into the cold air, so we got a little electric heater–that way we can heat up just the bathroom to a nice toasty temperature for him and make the transition easier.

Comments are closed.

Scroll to Top