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For some kids, bath time is the highlight of their day. Others go kicking and screaming into the tub. Whichever category your little ones fall into, this article is for you because, at the end of the day, all kids have to get clean!

Here at Babo Botanicals, we think bath time can (and should!) be fun. We want to help you make it as enjoyable as possible for everyone involved!

The best bath time is a breeze for parents, fun for kids, and safe and healthy for your little one’s delicate skin!

We’ll give you several tips for having a blast and making the most of bath time, but first, let’s quickly go over some basics about bathing newborns, toddlers, and kids.

Bath Time For Newborns

For tiny little newborns, bath time should be short, sweet, and relatively infrequent!

Brand-new babies have very delicate skin, and bathing them too often can dry out or irritate their skin. Plus, it’s especially important to be careful with your newborn’s skin if they have eczema.

While sometimes a diaper blowout or a big spit-up calls for an extra bath, in general, aim to bathe your newborn no more than about two or three times a week.

Keep baths short — around 10 minutes— and use a soft washcloth to clean their body, paying close attention to those cute folds of skin.

Before you begin bath time, set out all the supplies you’ll need because once your baby is in the bath, you won’t be able to leave them alone. Safety first!

After getting your newborn out of the tub, complete the bath routine with a hydrating and protective lotion. Choosing the right lotion is especially important for babies with eczema or sensitive skin.

Babo Botanical's Sensitive Baby Daily Hydrating Baby Lotion is a great option!

With 2% colloidal oatmeal and ultra-moisturizing calendula, chamomile, shea butter, and jojoba oil, this lotion is perfect for everyone — even babies with dry, sensitive, irritated, or eczema-prone skin!

Bath Time For Toddlers And Kids 

Once your little baby grows into a toddler and then into a big kid, their skin will be able to handle more frequent bathing. You might even find that a nightly bath is a nice addition to your child’s bedtime routine!

Cleaning your child’s skin (and paying attention to nooks and crannies) is still important at this age. So is washing their hair with a gentle shampoo and applying lotion after they hop out of the tub.

One of the things that makes a toddler or child’s bath different from a newborn’s bath is that with kids, bath time can also be playtime!

Many children love to splash around in the water and could play in the bath for hours on end. Others will put up a fight every time you try to bathe them.

Whether you simply need new ideas to keep bath time fun and interesting or are desperate for some tricks to make bath time go smoothly, we’re here for you.

We’ve put together several tips on how to make bath time less stressful for you as a parent, more fun for your little one, and good for your child’s skin!

Tips For A Fun Bath Time

1) Relax

If your child goes kicking and screaming into the bathtub, relaxing might be the last thing you think of when you picture bath time!

But the right products can calm your child and even help get them ready to sleep, which is super beneficial if you bathe your little one right before bedtime.

To promote relaxation, try Babo Botanicals’s lavender-scented products, like our Calming Lavender Bubble Bath & Wash or our Calming Lavender Body Lotion for post-bath moisturization. Both are made with the soft, soothing scent of french lavender to relax, soothe, and facilitate more restful sleep.

Plus, they’re both easy on your child’s skin and gluten-free, sulfate-free, paraben-free, and contain no synthetic fragrances!

Let lavender work its magic to put you and your kids at ease during bath time and even help to get everyone in the mood for bedtime!

2) Add Bubbles

When it comes to having fun in the tub, a bubble bath just never gets old! Plus, if you choose a bubble bath that’s good for your child’s skin and doesn’t contain any yucky chemicals, it’s a win-win all around.

For example, our Eucalyptus Body Wash & Bubble Bath is EWG Verified™, made with a plant-based formula, and created for even the most sensitive of skin — all the way from babies to adults!

Since our bubble bath uses plant-based bubbling agents, it doesn’t foam like synthetic products. But it will create great bubbles if you know how to use it!

All you have to do is pour at least two capfuls of the formula under vigorously running water when you start filling the tub.

Bubbles will form, and your little one will soak in the natural vapors of eucalyptus, peppermint, and rosemary oil to soothe, calm, and nourish their skin and body.

3) Make Hair-Brushing A Breeze

Bath time doesn’t refer only to the time your child spends in the tub. They’ll associate “bath time” with the whole process, including getting dressed and brushing their hair afterward.

If your child always seems to have impossibly tangly hair, brushing it out can be a real pain. Literally. And you don’t want a perfectly good bath time to end in a battle over tangly hair!

Use a leave-in conditioner, like our Smoothing Berry & Primrose Conditioning Spray, to control and detangle your little one’s locks. Our spray-in conditioner is also great for eliminating frizz, calming flyaways, and preventing static.

“Handy to have around” is an understatement!

4) Sing Or Play Music

Fun in the tub usually involves lots of bubble bath and fun bath toys. But think out-of-the-box to keep bath time interesting and motivating for your kids.

If your kids love music, consider creating a bathtime playlist and playing it from your phone. Whether or not the songs have to do with splish-splashing, your child will enjoy the fun tunes!

Or, if you’re feeling creative, inventing your own bathtime song to sing. For example, make up your own words to the tune of a kids’ song. This is the way we wash our toes, wash our toes, wash our toes…

5) Embrace Simple Toys

Bath toys don’t have to be fancy! To liven up playtime in the bathtub, take a peek in your kitchen.

A plastic cup, a new sponge, or a strainer might be just the thing. Funnels, measuring cups, and slotted spoons are also fun options. As you can see, the possibilities are endless!

6) Use Pool Toys

While sometimes simple toys are the best toys, other times you’ll need to bring in some reinforcements: the pool toys.

Pool toys are made for fun in the water, and that’s just what bath time should be! Sift through the beach bag and bottles of sunscreen to find your kid’s favorite pool toys. Give them a good scrub down before putting them in the tub.

7) Have Storytime

If your child loves reading and storytime, why not tell them a story while they’re scrub-a-dubbing? Incorporate those bath toys we mentioned above as the main characters in the story.

Let your imagination run wild and spin a tale of fish, boats, and sharks at sea!

If your little one prefers looking at books, think about getting a couple of waterproof books (yes, that’s a thing!) for the bath.

8) Make It Educational

Don’t rule out learning when it comes to bath time! Whether your child is learning colors, practicing sight words, counting, or learning the names of their favorite animals, they can do it in the bathtub.

Look for foam bath tiles with letters, numbers, colors, animals, trucks, flowers…you name it! Choose something your child loves and have fun with it.

9) Play “I Spy”

Who said you can’t play regular games during bath time? Play a game of “I Spy” or adapt another one of your child’s favorite games for the bathtub.

10) Change It Up

Kids love an adventure, so add a bit of mystery and novelty to bath time by changing the scenery now and then.

If you have more than one bathroom, let your child play in the other tub once or twice a month to transform bath time from a battle into a fun experience.

11) Bathe With Balloons

Balloons are fun no matter where you are. They even make a great addition to bath time!

Blow up a few colorful balloons while you’re filling the tub to entice your child into the water. Then blow up even more to keep the fun going while they wash.

If you want to get really creative, you can learn how to make balloon animals for a more enjoyable bath experience.

Tip: Keep a careful eye on your little one while they play, as balloons can be dangerous for your child if you’re not careful.

12) Color The Water

Want a neat way to add a bit of fun to your child’s bath time? Color the water!

Purchase one or two skin-safe dyes — food coloring works well — and add a few drops to the bathwater for a cool and unique effect.

Our favorites are blue and green because you can then stimulate their imagination (and encourage them to put their face in the water) by pretending that they’re fish.

13) Make A Glow-In-The-Dark Tub

Kids love things that glow in the dark. And, honestly, we do too. Take advantage of that attraction to make bath time easier!

Dim the lights and add all sorts of glow-in-the-dark items to the water, including:

  • Soap
  • Bubble bath
  • Paint
  • Toys
  • Glowsticks
  • Decals
  • Stick-on stars

After your child experiences a glow-in-the-dark bath for the first time, they’ll never want a regular lights-on bath again!

14) Blow Bubbles 

Bubbles are a quick, easy, and cheap addition to bath time that the whole family will love!

Blow bubbles over your child’s head and see how many they can pop before they hit the water. Encourage them to try blowing bubbles themselves.

Or, for a truly bubble-filled bath time, purchase a small bubble machine and watch the excitement ensue! You may have so much fun with the bubble machine that you’ll want to use it during your own bath time.

15) Encourage Your Child’s Creative Side

Encourage your child’s creativity with a bathtime art project.

We mentioned glow-in-the-dark paint earlier in the article, but you can also purchase other types of safe, water-soluble paints that your child will love playing with in the tub.

Show them how to draw on the walls, the edges of the tub, even themselves. Just be sure you tell them that bath time is the only time they can draw on the walls!

16) Indulge In A Cool Treat

Reward your child’s good behavior during bath time by indulging in a cool treat in the tub when the washing is finished.

Treats such as popsicles, fudgesicles, ice cream cones, drumsticks, and other frozen goodies are the perfect way to say, “Good job!” for taking a bath without a fuss.

And, when your child eats their treat in the bath, you won’t even have to worry about drips on the floor or stickiness on their hands and face. You can just rinse them off in the bathwater and be done!

17) Make A Game Of Washing

Bath games are the perfect way to teach your child and keep them clean at the same time.

We talked about practicing sight words, counting, and learning the names of their favorite animals earlier in the article. But why not make a game of the washing itself? You can even teach them to identify parts of their body at the same time!

Here’s how to do it:

  • Ask your little one to point to their toes
  • Once they do, scrub those tootsies clean
  • Ask your little one to point to their knee
  • Once they do, scrub, scrub, scrub!

You get the idea.

When your child is old enough, you can call out body parts and have them scrub themselves with a washcloth or a handful of their favorite soap.

18) Introduce Noodle Time

Bet you never thought about introducing pool noodles into bath time. These soft, floaty toys can turn even the most routine bath experience into a good time for all!

We recommend purchasing one, two, or three in various colors. Then cut the noodles into sizes that your child can handle easily — 2-inch, 3-inch, or 4-inch sections work well for younger children — so that you have enough to cover the surface of the bathwater.

Do this ahead of time and surprise your little one with a colorful bath time that is reminiscent of the ball pits we all know and love.

19) Set A Time And Stick To It

One easy way to make bath time fun for you and your family is to set a time and stick to it.

This one may be a lot less fun than the other entries on this list, but kids need routine. And once they know that they’ll always take a bath before bed, the regular task becomes easier for both them and you.

20) Have Some Rubber Ducky Fun

 

Rubber ducky fun is similar to the noodle time idea we introduced earlier in the article. But instead of cutting pool noodles into smaller pieces, fill the tub with rubber duckies.

Go with all yellow, or purchase different colors for a rainbow full of fun. You can even teach them about colors while they play by asking them to find a blue duckie or a red duckie or a green duckie.

You can also riff on this theme by using plastic multi-colored balls, flowers, Easter eggs, or whatever other shapes you think your child might enjoy.

The first time through, stick with one shape (all ducks or all balls). The next time you use this activity, mix things up (throw in some of the ducks and some of the balls) for a totally different experience!

21) Create A Shower Toy In The Bath

Encouraging your child to get their head wet can be a difficult thing. Instead of asking them to put their face in the water, create a shower toy in the bath!

Pull a colander (a.k.a. strainer) out of the kitchen cabinet or purchase a cheap plastic one at your local dollar store, and introduce it as a toy during bath time.

Show your little one how to wash their hands and arms under the streams of water. Pretend that it’s raining inside. Then let them play with the colander themselves and encourage them to “dance in the rain.”

It’s an easy and fun way to teach them not to be afraid of getting their face and head wet!

22) Give Them Their Own Soap And Shampoo

It’s good to share, but kids like to have their own things, too. Instead of using the soap and shampoo that you use, give them their own products to wash with.

All-in-one soap and shampoo products work well for this purpose. And if you can find ones with a pump, you can let your little one dispense it themselves.

Babo Botanicals bathtime products are perfect for this purpose! Give your child the choice between:

These pump dispensers make it easy for your little one to learn how to wash themselves.

23) Make Mirror Magic

Another fun bathtime activity that pairs nicely with lots of bubbles is to give your child a mirror so they can see what they look like.

Make funny hairdos (mohawks, beehives, etc.) or beards on your child’s head and face and let them laugh at their own silliness. Introducing a mirror into the bath is also a great way to help them identify their own facial features.

You can even put bath paint on their cheeks, nose, forehead, and chin and ask them to wash it off as a way to teach them how to keep themselves clean.

24) Wash With DIY Dough Soap

Once in a while, it’s nice to change things up to keep your little one’s bath time exciting.

Instead of washing with your regular products, whip up a batch of this DIY dough soap (like Play-Doh, but soap) for some clean, sensory fun!

Here’s the simple recipe.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of baking soda
  • ½ cup of corn starch
  • ½ cup of water
  • ¼ cup of regular kid soap
  • Food coloring of your choice

Instructions

  1. Measure baking soda, corn starch, water, soap, and food coloring into a large, microwave-safe mixing bowl
  2. Stir well until all ingredients are combined
  3. Microwave on high for 2 minutes
  4. Remove bowl from microwave and stir
  5. If the dough sticks to your spoon, microwave for an additional 30 seconds
  6. Allow mixture to cool for a few minutes before forming into a ball, a block, or some other shape
  7. Let cool for another five or 10 minutes before using

Enjoy!

Good, Clean Bathtime Fun

Even if your child isn’t the biggest fan of bath time, there are ways to make it what we would call “good, clean fun!” Use the nine tips we listed above to get some ideas on how to make your child’s bath time easier and more enjoyable. 

We think that one of the building blocks of a great bath time is bubble bath. So, start by stocking up on a Babo Botanicals’s Plant-Based Bubble Bath, and then choose some toys and games that suit your little one. Get them clean and have loads of fun at the same time!