Children and Toddler Bath Time Routines: 10 Ideas to Make Bath Time Fun!

Make children and toddler bath time routines an enjoyable ritual with these fun ideas. They are a great way to get your kids to want to get in the bath and they may even learn a few things with the various activities.


1. Be prepared for bath time – have everything you need ready from toys, bath solutions, creams, powders, towel, clothers, nappy and whatever else you need. Kids hate feeling cold or waiting around for mum so being prepared makes sure kids can get in when the water is warm and get out and dry before they get cold again! Children don’t have a lot of patience so if you are ready to act quickly they enjoy the experience a lot more.

2. Start dinner preparation early so it doesn’t make toddler bath time hectic. It means you aren’t running from bathroom to kitchen, you are able to enjoy playing with your kids in the bath and you are able to set good habits in the bathroom because you are present. When mum’s are busy with other things, splashing games begin, children get hurt, they start jumping and throwing toys and the list goes on. You enjoy the process a lot more too because you can sit and relax and have a laugh with your kids.

3. Be safe at toddler bath time: Use non-slip mats, keep electrical products away, NEVER leave young children unattended and don’t fill the bath too deep. The depth for babies is 5 – 8 cm and waist high for toddlers bath. Even this depth of water they could drown in.

4. Answer on while children bath: Put the answering machine on or bring the phone handset into the bathroom if you can’t miss a call. This will prevent you from being tempted to run out of the bathroom even for a second. Because that’s all it takes for something to go wrong and irreversible damage to be done.

5. DIY Bath time Toys: – my kids’ favourite toddler bath time toys are plastic kitchen utensils and containers. Forget the basketball hoop, boat and balls! Save your money and make them happy at the same time! Measuring cups and jugs are great because they love to copy what they see you do in the kitchen. It’s also great practise for keeping a steady hand when pouring and aiming.

6. Try food colouring the bath for a bright fun bath change. You could make the whole day in the theme of that colour by dressing in that colour, making cupcakes with that colour icing or only eating those coloured foods (maybe you could get them to try foods they haven’t had before!).

7. Rotate toddler bath toys: Just like the bedroom, rotating toys works a treat in keeping kids enjoying their toys. They don’t need the bath that full of toys anyway. Divide them into three or four piles, put in a bag that allows the toys to drain of water and dry and hang up in a cupboard. Swap the bags over once a week and see how much more they play with their toys rather than trying to destroy them and terrorise each other with them!

8. Fear of Water: The bath is a good place to develop good water skills with children and get rid of an illogical fear of water. Play gentle splash games and make up songs with actions that involve pouring water over the face and head of the children.

Also add in sections where the children voluntarily put their heads under the water to blow bubbles. Do this from the start and your children will not grow up with a fear of water. If your child has had a bad fright with water this is a good place to go back to again and build up to deeper water and activities.

9. Set a fun bath theme:

Fishing – catch objects with a flour sieve

Ice-age – pre make ice blocks and watch them melt or play around them (good one for summer)

Noah’s Ark – A toy boat can rescue plastic toys from a bucket or watering can downpour

Cleaning – children love imitating what you do so give them some ‘dishes’ or ‘clothes’ to wash in a bucket in the bath

Art class – get bath crayons or make up your own body paint with food colours and hypo-allergenic shaving foam

10. Pack Up: Make it a part of the routine that children pull up the plug and put their toys away. I have been expecting my son to do it from the moment he started playing with toys in the bath. When they are very young you can help guide their hand into the bag or bucket you put the toys in. However when my two children are having a bath together, both my 3 year old and 1 year old will be involved in picking up the toys and putting them away.

Hopefully one or more of these children and toddler bath routine ideas will help bath times be a lot more enjoyable and less of a hectic struggle for you! Remember the key is to keep bath times at a regular time each day and to be prepared!

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