Last summer, we ran a popular series on simple summer fun ideas. I live in a very wintery climate and have had questions both from friends here and from readers on one of my other blogs on how to entertain children during a long winter. So I will be doing a Surviving Winter series this winter! Hurray for surviving winter!
We can easily have snow on the ground from October until May. Last "winter," we ditched the snow around the end of March/beginning of April, but it literally rained and rained and rained until Father's Day (which is odd for us because we live in a desert climate). So we can get a little house-bound and need to come up with ideas for keeping our children (and therefore ourselves) sane.
First up...Bath Play!
At my house, bath time has ALWAYS been just another playtime. This is true year round. A couple of months ago, my neighbor asked me for ideas to keep her almost four year old occupied in the day. He is the fourth child in their family, and his older brothers are all at school. I listed off things I do with Kaitlyn, and playing in the tub stuck out to her. She started doing that with her son each day and says he LOVES it. He loves to play in the tub and will stay occupied for a long time.
My kids also love the bath. The bathtub is one giant water play activity. You can easily get at least 30 minutes out of a bath. Oftentimes, I have to force my kids out after an hour!
So what do you play with in the tub? Anything you would use with water play and more. We have several posts on water play on this blog. Here are some ideas:
- Bubbles
- Spoons/measuring spoons
- Cups of various sizes
- Pitchers
- Measuring cups
- Washcloth (my kids like to wipe the walls)
- Squirt bottle
- Goggles
- Paint brushes
- Tub Painting
There are also a whole lot of bath toys out there!
- Bath Letters are great for adding some fun letter learning to bath time
- I have written a Toy Review on Bath Toys
- I have also written a Best Toys For Children on bath toys, and it includes care guidelines of bath toys
And what about you? What will you do during this loooong bath play each day? Here are a few ideas:
- Play with the kids
- Sneak extra learning in there (like with the alphabet letters--"What sound does A say?"
- Sit and quietly read a book. This is very relaxing! It is nice and warm and humid!
- Clean the bathroom
- Call a friend if you can still focus on the kids
- Take pictures--enjoy these sweet moments
- Get ready for the day
- Sit and do nothing! How fun does that sound?
I so enjoy your blog and your babywise chronicles blog. For a month now, when i google your chronicles blog it says "link broken" and I cant get onto the site. Any idea what I can do
ReplyDeleteHi there! I look forward to reading these posts! I live in England so obviously it is contantly cold and wet here so need lots of indoor ideas!
ReplyDeletelodestar,
ReplyDeleteI am not sure why it would be doing that--it works when I google it. But here is the exact addy:
www.babywisemom.com
That will get you there!
I hope I can help out Fiona!
ReplyDeletehow fun! never thought of letting my kids play so long in the bath, I should try that! They will have a lot of fun! We also blow bubbles in the bath, they love it!
ReplyDeleteHi there! Unfortunately typing in the internet address doesnt work either. I will just have to keep on enjoying the learning blog! Will miss reading the Chronicles blog tho.
ReplyDeleteWould it be possible for you to send me the details of the other babywise groups as I cant get them off the chronicles site anymore. Maybe those will work for me. Thanx for all the great ideas... looking forward to those winter ones, as its pretty cold!
Going to do this today or tomorrow! I have to admit it's nice here today but we've already been outside. I think I will have to bookmark these for summer play ideas since that is heat stroke and hurricane season for us. :)
ReplyDeleteSo I did this today with my toddler. At first I just gave him a small sponge and bowl after showing him how I picked up water with the sponge and squeezed it into the bowl. He really liked that. When he got tired of that, I gave him a paintbrush for water painting. After a while, we added our bath boats. A great time!
ReplyDeleteLodestar, that is so odd. Try copy and pasting:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.babywisemom.com/
and there is a babywise group on babycenter. There is also the Chronicles Google group:
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/chronicles-of-a-babywise-mom
So glad Kristy! I remembered the other day that when Brayden was a baby, I would get ready while he played in the tub. So there is another idea for something for you to do.
ReplyDelete