Bath time learning

Bath time is a fun time for talking, playing, singing and interacting with your child. It’s free from life’s other distractions and offers uninterrupted opportunities to learn and play.

To maximise learning, try these ideas:

Learn new words

Use a bath puppet as a washer and name parts of the body as you wash them. Children need to hear words repeated often to understand and use them.  Don’t miss out the less common body parts such as elbow, cheek, wrist or knee.

Make some noise!

Use the same puppet to make funny animal noises. Children love to copy sounds and will often make sounds for animals before they learn the animal names. Try as many as you can think up!

Play games

• Use a face cloth to play peek-a-boo.
• Rummage your kitchen drawers to add to your bath toy collection. Plastic cups, wooden spoons, sieves and containers are great for learning about things that float, make noise and sink. You can also use different sized containers to compare and conduct experiments on size and volume.
• If you have more than one wind up toy, race them down the bath
• Play I-spy

Sing some songs

• Galumph Went the Little Green Frog
• Old McDonald had a Farm
• Five Little Ducks
• 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Once I Caught A Fish Alive

Share a book

There are lots of different splash-proof bath books available. Add a story to your bath time fun.