Baby Bath Time is a perfect opportunity to use this necessary part of the routine as a play and learning one too! When we are doing caregiving routines it is a wonderful time to use some tickling games and engaging in eye contact further deepening your bond to each other.
Singing in the Bath
Singing songs using your hands to do the actions or a toy is a lovely language builder for your little one. Over time and with repetition, you might notice if you pause at the end of a song line, baby may make a sound! The beginning of speech! You, as their primary caregiver and parent are their first and most important teacher and they love you best and will love it if you play these touch and tickle games and songs!
We have nine bath time toys in our range and have found a song that goes with each of them!
- Baby Lion – Leo the Lion
https://www.parentchildmothergooseaustralia.org.au/songs.html#63
- Baby Monkey – Monkey, monkey in a tree
https://www.parentchildmothergooseaustralia.org.au/rhymes.html#018
- Baby Turtle – Tiny Tim (I had a little turtle)
- Baby Rhino- Brush your teeth with baby rhino https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1wIhPsQj9Y
- Baby Warthog – Animals Songs for Kids – Warthog Song
- Baby Bear – Rock a Bye your Bear
https://www.parentchildmothergooseaustralia.org.au/songs.html#22
- Baby Frog – Der Galumph Green Frog
https://www.parentchildmothergooseaustralia.org.au/songs.html#66
- Baby Tiger – I’m a great big tiger
https://www.parentchildmothergooseaustralia.org.au/songs.html#72
- Baby Hippo
Taking it a step further and introducing some play outside the caregiving routines starts to happen as baby is awake and alert more often during the day (hopefully not at night!)
Five Play Ideas….
- Water play (other than the bath) – taking baby outside to explore the wonders of water play with their bath toy plus a little bucket and a small cup (can be a clean and washed lid off a container) is a delight to watch and see how they explore! Always watch babies and children when they are in or around water for their safety.
- As your baby becomes a toddler you may like to explore your baby bath toy animal exploring Edible Water Beads (taste safe) you can find the instructions here https://alittlepinchofperfect.com/edible-water-beads-sensory-play
- Small World Play – where you make a habitat for your animal bath toy will be fun to deepen and grow that imaginative play! Here is just one idea…. https://montessorifromtheheart.com/2019/03/31/ocean-small-world-taste-safe-spaghetti-preschool-sensory-play/
- Read a book together about the baby bath toy animal….. That’s not my series is a hard cover book series with sensory touch points for baby and you to explore as you read together. https://usborne.com/au/that-s-not-my-frog-9781409504436 or perhaps Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Available online or at bookstores.
- Some tips about reading with a baby from four months are here from The Smith Family’s Let’s Read program: http://www.letsread.com.au/getmedia/0a8e0e64-4272-4373-b289-f5cc9901bf61/LR-reading-tips-4-months.pdf.aspx
- Build a home for your little one’s bath toy together…wood blocks or perhaps even empty boxes stacked up…the joy of knocking them down and building them back up again is priceless to see and enjoy!
Lastly,
I hope this little article has shown you some wonderful ideas to play and sing together with a simple little bath toy! So much discovery and learning comes from playing together with your little one. Planning to play at least once a day will benefit both you and your baby’s learning about each other and deepen your relationship whether it’s through caregiving routines or dedicated play. Till next time play, connect and learn,
