Bathroom games for children are not just fun. They also introduce the child to amazing properties objects, the laws of physics, calm nervous system, relax and at the same time lift your spirits.
But don't limit yourself to rubber duckies and boats. There are tons of fun and educational bathroom games. Your baby will play some games as soon as he learns to sit, while others will become available to him at 2, 3, 4 years old.
In the article I will also talk about interesting toys for swimming.
Preparing for a swim
- Lay down an anti-slip mat.
- If the child is still unsure of sitting, use a special bath seat.
- Prepare to be wet, very wet. How more fun games, those more water on the floor and mom. So get your rags ready. Sometimes I change my clothes.
Simple bath games
- Transfusion. This is probably one of the first games of any child. And one of my favorites.
- Fishing. Fish can be caught not only with a magnetic fishing rod, but also with a strainer or net.
- Kinder eggs. Pour a bunch of kinder eggs and plastic balls into the bathtub. We flounder with them, throw them, catch them with a colander, strainer, etc.
- Collecting pebbles and shells from the bottom of the bath.
- Theater. You can show your baby a real show in the bathroom, telling familiar fairy tales and inventing new ones.
Story games in the bathroom
Here everything is limited only by your imagination and the interests of the child.
- Washing the doll. If you have a girl, she will be happy to wash her baby doll. But in practice, boys love to play it too.
- Wash. You can wash it in the bathtub, or you can use a separate container, placing it on plastic base(container, basin). The child will be interested in soaping doll clothes or even his own. At the same time, we are raising a little helper.
- Tea party. We feed and drink toys from toy dishes.
- . One of my son's favorite games. You can simply wash it with water, but it’s even more interesting to use foam for bathing and rinse it off with a shower.
- Transportation of passengers. We transport small toys from one bank to the other. For the game you can use not only boats, but also ordinary plastic containers.
- Shipwreck. All boys love destruction and all sorts of incidents. We create artificial waves, make a storm and rain from the shower, and then save sinking ships and passengers. Games like these help direct aggression (which exists and should be in every person) in the right direction, and at the same time help you feel like you are in the role of a rescuer.
- Flood. While there is still little water in the bathroom, the baby will enjoy watching how the rising water absorbs cars and makeshift houses. And it’s so great to save toys!
- Animal world. While playing, we can show the child how various animals behave in the water. How a seagull catches fish, how dolphins play, how seals get ashore. For this, of course, you will need rubber or plastic toys, pieces of fabric (jellyfish).
These, of course, are not all the story-based games we play.
Just start, and then your child will come up with fantastic stories for games, and you will only be amazed at his ingenuity.
Experiments while swimming
- Item properties. Children love to watch how various objects change in the water - paper, a rag, a bag, etc.
- Squeezing out the sponge. In this way, children develop hand motor skills. And if you squeeze it into a separate container, and then put a sponge in it and watch the water disappear - for a child this is real magic. You can also invite your child to collect drops of water from the tiles or sides of the bathtub.
- Blowing into the tube, a short hose and watch how bubbles appear, and even with sound accompaniment.
- Dip the bottle into the water or another container to allow bubbles to come out.
- Drowning - not drowning. We put objects in the water and see which ones sink and which ones don’t. And if you lower it to the bottom, which ones will float up.
- Checking which toy will jump out of the water higher.
- (light toy, foam on the wall) from a water cannon, a water bottle with a hole in the lid, a syringe, a water pistol (My-shop).
Playing with foam and shower
When playing with foam, it is important that it be hypoallergenic, ideally not sting your eyes. And the shower needs to be set up in such a way that the jets do not get into the baby’s face, at least while he is just learning to interact with it.
- Fountain. The simplest shower game. The streams rise up so nicely, they tickle your fingers. What happens if you immerse your shower in water?
- Rinse off shaving foam. Draw letters, numbers, any patterns or just dots on the bathroom wall with shaving foam. Encourage your child to wash them off with a shower. Great way Learn letters and numbers in the game. Antoshka loves this game.
- Blowing on bubble bath. You can also blow on light objects in the bathroom and watch them float.
- Who's hiding under the foam. Dilute more foam in the water and invite the baby to look for who is hiding under it and where the toy floated away.
- Foam hairstyle. Lather your child's hair into fun hairstyles and show the result in the mirror.
- cleaning with a tractor.
Is there a child who will remain indifferent to drawing in the bathroom? Antoshka doesn’t want to get out when we’re drawing.
Attention! You shouldn't do this on acrylic bath. And on cast iron, first try small area, can you wash it?
After such games, I wash the bathtub and tiles with bath cleaner, and the seams between the tiles - citric acid. Everything takes no more than 10 minutes.
- We are drawing finger paints, gouache, shaving foam. There are also pencils for the bathroom.
- While drawing You can learn colors, learn letters and numbers. Well, all sorts of scribbles all over the wall will delight the child.
- We wash off the paints shower. This is another entertainment.
- Bathing in the mud. After Antoshka washes off the paint, he happily flounders in the colored water. Sometimes it takes on a not very aesthetic appearance. But the child is delighted.
Bath toys
The most common are rubber toys, boats, boats, and a water mill. You definitely won't go wrong buying them. Any child yet long years will play them.
For example, boats:
Ozone
My-shop
Ozone
My-shop
Ozone
My-shop
Well, where would we go without wind-up toys:
My-shop
Ozone
My-shop
My-shop
The company "Polesie" has sets " water world“, which contain many different elements for playing with water. The first set does not fit in the bathtub, it is for playing with water, but not in the bathtub itself, because... The dimensions are very large. The remaining two sets are just for the bath.
Ozone
My-shop
My-shop
Ozone
My-shop
Bath shower toy " Submarine"(Ozone, My-shop).
This is Antoshka's favorite toy. The submarine has a built-in pump that runs on batteries. Unfortunately, all we have left of the toy is the part that is attached to the wall with suction cups, and the submarine is broken.
We used it almost every day, including in the pool at the dacha. Apparently, due to the fact that it lay in the water of the pool all summer, it broke.
Fishing(Ozone, My-shop) is another popular game among children. It can be played not only in the bathroom. But the magnets of the fishing rod will stick to the walls cast iron bath. If the child is small, you can catch fish with a strainer or net. And if the child is older, the walls of the bathtub will not be a problem for him.
Mill(My-shop) is a toy for both sand and water. We have three different ones and Antoshka plays them all with pleasure.
Nowadays there are expensive bath toys with all sorts of bells and whistles on sale, but here are simple ones like nets, watering cans, water transport, and various containers are the most popular among children. And they cost pennies.
Any child will love it bath stickers, soft mosaic and soft construction set (My-shop).
In addition to the fact that children love to stick things to the walls of the bathtub, these toys also develop fine motor skills, imaginative and logical thinking.
Will delight the baby and all sorts of sprinklers, water pumps, pistols (My-shop).
We once bought a cheap bath pump. Antoshka didn't play it. It turned out they just bought it too early. As he approached the age of three, the pump became one of his favorite bath toys.
We buy our toys mainly from the My-shop store. Books are there, as a rule. more expensive than in the Labyrinth, but many of the toys are cheap. And the choice is huge. There are over 3,600 bath toys alone!
There are fewer bathing toys in Ozone, but they are mainly represented by well-known brands.
What interesting and fun games can you play with your child in the bathroom.
The proposed games teach children to classify objects from various materials, improve tactile sensations, promote speech development
Do you remember how, as children, we were attracted to swimming in the bathtub or in the river? And we weren’t averse to tinkering in the puddle either! And how now we, adults, are upset by blue lips, pimples on our hands, and wet feet of children. How to organize games with water so that they bring joy not only to children, but also to us adults?
Let's try to do this together.
“Let’s wash and splash…”
A game to improve tactile sensations; on the development of speech breathing.
Necessary equipment: bubble bath, toys.
◈ How to play: whip up some foam in a bathtub of water and play the game “ Windmill- who blows the foam the hardest?
◈ Play blind man's buff - ask the child to close his eyes, and let him guess by touch what kind of toy he is holding.
◈ Organize a competition “Guess the melody” - who can remember the most songs about water and swimming (for example, “I am a Vodyanoy, I am a Vodyanoy...”, “The geese were washing their feet in a puddle by the ditch...”).
◈ Read “water” poems - who will remember more. For example:
My dear children!
I am writing you a letter:
I ask you to wash more often
Your hands and face.
It doesn’t matter what kind of water:
Boiled, key,
From the river, or from the well,
Or just rainy!
◈ Let's consolidate: such games can be played in the pool, on the beach, in general, wherever there is an opportunity to splash in the water.
“Wash, wash the chimney sweep...”
The game teaches you to classify objects made of various materials, improves tactile sensations, and promotes speech development.
Required equipment: basin with water, brush, soap, toys.
◈ How to play: announce that today is “bath day” for toys. When washing, pay attention to what material they are made of, describe how they feel to the touch. Let the child choose the words-characteristics himself or repeat after adults (for example, the ball is rubber, smooth, round; the bear is fluffy, soft, rag; the car is smooth, hard, plastic, etc.). Tell poems and riddles about toys:
The ball is round
The ball is smooth,
The ball is bouncing
Carelessly.
The cube has corners
And four sides
He can't jump at all
Who will help him?
A long ear, a ball of fluff,
Jumps deftly, loves carrots, (hare)
◈ We consolidate: when characterizing objects, organize a competition for knowledge of antonyms, select pairs: soft - hard, smooth - rough, round - square, etc. Offer the game “Let's close our eyes” - let the child guess the toys by touch and describe them.
"Blow, blow, breeze"
The game helps develop speech breathing
Required equipment: a bowl of water, a paper boat, straws.
◈ How to play: offer your child a competition “Who will blow on the boat the hardest and how far will it sail?” The winner gets a prize!
◈ Blow into the straw, placing it in the water. Who has the stronger breeze? Mark, will the boat float if there are bubbles in the water?
◈ Let's consolidate: such games can be played in the bathroom, in a river, in a lake - wherever there is water.
Post-washing
Necessary equipment: laundry - children's, women's, men's clothing, underwear, bed linen.
◈ How to play: offer your child the game “Laundry” - the mother needs to help sort the laundry: by color, by type of material (wool, cotton, silk), by purpose.
◈ Reinforce: play the word game “Name it correctly”, for example: for a bed you need a pillowcase, a sheet... (the child finishes the story). When you have laundry in your house, ask your child what clothes you will wash. Play “Numeracy”: “I can name three pieces of outerwear: a hat - one, a coat - two, a fur coat - three.” - “And I can name three pieces of underwear: swimming trunks - one, T-shirt - two, panties - three,” etc.
Washing shoes
We work with the words and concepts “summer”, “winter”, “home”, etc.
Required equipment: shoes, shoe brushes, water, shoe polish.
◈ How to play: remember poems about shoes and learn them with your child.
I know how to put on shoes
If only I want.
Me and little brother
I'll teach you how to put on shoes.
Puddles were measured in the morning,
We were walking in the yard,
And now it's time to go home
The boots are tired.
◈ When washing shoes, play “Shoe Store”. The child is a salesman, he sells you shoes and at the same time tells you about them (autumn children's blue leather boots; summer sandals, white with orange butterflies, etc.). If the child finds it difficult to answer, help him with the description and then ask him to repeat.
◈ You can also offer the game “What first, what then?” (first wash the shoes, then dry them and clean them with cream).
◈ Reinforce: every time the child puts on his shoes, ask him to describe the shoes.
Useful verses
They gave the shoe to the elephant.
He took one shoe
And he said: “We need wider ones,
And not two, but all four!*
Tanyusha has a concern:
Maya wants to help her.
Wash the rug in the bathroom
And rinse the laundry.
Well, mommy is afraid -
My daughter might wet herself.
Maybe I should give Taya an apron
And should I get her boots?
That's caring, that's caring.
Both have jobs.
“The ball won’t drown in the river”
The game teaches you to make inferences; helps the child understand which objects sink and which do not (those that are lighter than water); encourages experimentation
Required equipment: basin with water, cubes - plastic, wooden; shampoo bottles - full and empty; metal toys - cars, tractor; rubber bath toys. Do not take glass bottles, containers with corrosive detergents and other potentially dangerous items.
◈ How to play: invite your child to experiment - putting various objects into the water and observing which ones will sink and which ones will not. Help him understand why this happens: a plastic cube is lighter, empty, there is air inside, so it does not sink in water, but a bottle of shampoo is full, heavy with water, so it sinks to the bottom. Remember A. Barto’s poem and ask why the ball doesn’t sink?
Our Tanya loudly planets,
She dropped a ball into the river.
Hush, Tanenka, don’t plan,
I won't drown in the river.
Krivlyak
Tongue exercises
Required equipment: mirror.
◈ How to play: while you are washing, let the child make faces in front of the mirror - sticking out and hiding his tongue, clicking it, making sounds, licking his lips, smiling, opening and closing his mouth, etc.
Greetings, Dear friends! In the last article I talked about games that you can play in the sandbox in the summer. Today's topic of the article is educational games for the bathroom. Let's diversify the boring, daily bathing of the baby, turning it into entertainment that can bring pleasure to both the child and the mother. The bathtime games that I propose in today’s article will appeal even to those kids who don’t like to wash. Now the child will, on the contrary, wait for a bath, because so many interesting things await him.
You can add variety to your daily boring bathing different ways. In games while bathing, you can use both purchased toys and improvised means that every mother has at home.
Bathtime games: educational games for the bath
- Educational games with water while bathing in the bath.
- Give your child cups and offer to pour water from cup to cup. You can give your child a toy teapot and offer to pour water into cups so that the toys drink tea. Insert a funnel into the bottle and invite your baby to pour water into it using a glass.
- Educational game for the bath with a sponge. Teach your baby to squeeze a sponge. After the sponge has been wrung out well, invite your child to collect droplets of water from the walls in the bathroom, and then wring out the sponge again.
- Take two cups that have holes in the bottom. Fill one of them with water, place the second (empty) under it. Invite your child to watch how water from the top glass flows through the holes in the bottom into the bottom glass, and from there it pours into the bath. Invite him to arrange such a “waterfall” himself.
- Splash in the bathroom, create waves, slap your palms in the water. This activity is probably loved by all kids)) The most important thing is to take precautions and close the bathtub with curtains so that water does not get on the floor, otherwise conversations with neighbors cannot be avoided.
- Playing with a stream of water will not require any additional accessories. All you need is a shower with a function for switching water pressure. With it you can regulate the water pressure. The baby will enjoy catching water with his hands and trying to scoop water into his palms.
- We invite the child to transfer water (for example, from one end of the bath to the other or from one bowl to another) using a spoon or mug.
- We pour water into a sieve, a glass - and show that the water can be transferred in a glass, but all the water from the sieve quickly runs away and it will not be possible to bring it to its destination. You can offer your child a watering can and show that if the watering can is straight, water will not flow out of it, but if it is tilted, the water will run out through the strainer located on the spout.
- Baby bath foam– can bring unearthly pleasure to kids while bathing in the bath.
- You can put the foam on your palm and then blow it, watching the soap clouds fly away.
- You can build foam castles, beautiful towers, create snowdrifts
- We change the image of the baby - we create a crown on the head, change the hairstyle using foam, create a mustache and beard
- Using foam, you can depict a house, car, fish and other simple drawings on the wall. Involve your child in drawing.
- We take several small baby toys and hide them in snowdrifts made of foam. The child finds toys under the foam and, without taking them out, tries to guess by touch what kind of toy it is. This game will not only help entertain your baby, but also help develop tactile sensations.
- Bathroom wall stickers. I ordered these from China (initially they were for attaching washing supplies to the wall - shampoo, shower gel, etc., but our children were very interested in them, so we began to actively use them in games in the bathroom, and shampoos they remained standing on the shelf). With these stickers, my children and I come up with various games:
- Find a pair (we have several stickers and they are all paired: legs, arms, apple, heart). I place one sticker in a row and invite the child to put a pair of stickers next to it.
- Children love to just stick and peel off Velcro to the walls of the bathtub.
- Children attach toys they use in the bath to stickers attached to the wall.
- We sort the stickers by color.
- We glue the stickers to the wall, take an empty shampoo bottle, fill it with water, turn it over and stick it upside down to the wall onto the sticker. Open the lid. Now, we suggest pouring tea into a glass for the toys. The child opens the cap - presses on the shampoo bottle and substitutes a mug - the water runs, when the baby stops pressing on the bottle - the water stops running (even if the lid remains open).
- Experiments with water while swimming. I have already written about the things we do with children. But the experiments can be continued in the bathroom. Simple experiments with water will not leave the child indifferent.
- Sea salt. To experiment, you need to buy colored sea salt in advance. Pour it into a transparent glass (literally a little is required) and add water. After this, we hand the child a stick and offer to mix the water with salt. In the process, we observe what happens, how it gradually dissolves. When sea salt completely dissolve in water - pour the contents into the bath.
- Educational game for the bathroom: properties of objects. During the game, the child learns the properties various items– checks which ones sink and which ones float on the surface. To play, we use various toys (foam, rubber, plastic). We invite the child to check which of the toys will sink and which will remain floating. Select several objects - some of them should sink, others should float. Ask your child “Do you think the ball will sink? What about the iron spoon? After the baby gives an answer, offer to lower the voiced objects into the water and watch what happens. It is imperative to explain why some objects sink while others remain floating. With non-sinking toys (a plastic ball, for example), play “jumping”; my daughter had a lot of fun with it - we lower the ball to the bottom, release it and watch it jump out of the water.
- You can show your child how a sponge floats on the surface of the water, and after it is saturated with water, it goes to the bottom.
- Take a paper napkin, put it in water and show that it will spread (it is advisable to do this not in the bathroom where the baby is sitting, but in a separate bowl filled with water).
- Invite your child to pour water on the blades of the water mill and he will see how, under the pressure of water, it begins to rotate.
- Fill an empty plastic bottle with water (you can even take it from a shampoo bottle). And watch how the air comes out in bubbles, and the water fills its entire volume.
- Pre-freeze chamomile infusion or black tea in ice trays (the water must be colored). During bath time, give an ice cube to your child's hands. Invite your child to place a piece of ice on the bottom of the bathtub and watch what happens. The cube will gradually disappear, coloring the water
- Games while bathing with jars of shampoo, gel, cream... At first glance, it may seem that this is rubbish that belongs in the trash can. But with some imagination, it can be turned into an exciting game. By the way, I have noticed more than once that my children are very fascinated by toys not bought, but made with their own hands, from scrap materials. I don’t know what the secret is))
- Turn on a thin stream of water from the tap. Have your child sit next to you and hand them shampoo bottles. The baby will be happy to fill the bottles with water and screw the caps on. By the way, screwing and unscrewing lids on jars trains fine motor skills
- Take two shampoo bottles. Fill one with water, leave the other empty and demonstrate to the baby that the bottle filled with water sank, but the empty one remained on the surface of the water.
- Invite your child to pour water, for example, from a bottle that contained shampoo into a jar of cream. During the game, the child will easily learn the concepts of “empty” and “full”.
- Playing in the bath with toys
- Wind-up toys can delight any child. For a child, this is a real miracle - the toy floats on its own, without any help. You can arrange a competition - get several toys and set them sailing, seeing which one comes first to the finish line
- The missing toy. Another educational game for developing a child's memory. We line up the toys on the shelf, invite the child to remember them, after which the child turns away. Mom removes one of the toys, the baby turns and, looking carefully at the toys, tries to remember who is missing.
- We put on a show with rubber bath toys. Take toys that you usually use for bathing in the bath and use them to act out a fairy tale, voicing the toys in different voices. Let the mother duck take the ducklings and they will swim to the island (created from a disposable plate) to visit the hippopotamus. Involve your baby in the game, let him help you voice it and come up with a fairy tale.
- Water pistol is another one interesting activity for children, which can keep children occupied while bathing in the bath. A younger child can be encouraged to simply learn to shoot a pistol. For an older child, you can draw a target (with finger paints, toothpaste) located at the other end of the bathtub and invite him to shoot at it.
- Ships - we launch boats to sail on the “sea”, you can put passengers in them - small toys from Kinder Surprises, create artificial waves, and when the boats capsize - save the passengers.
- We catch fish. For this game we will need a “Fisherman” toy, you can buy it or make it yourself (a fishing rod - a stick with a magnet, fish with metal clips). While swimming, we hand the child a fishing rod, release fish into the “sea” and invite the little angler to catch the fish. You can take your own fishing rod and race to see who can catch the most fish. To find out the winner, the child will have to remember the count, but how else will he know the number of fish caught?
- Drawing in the bathroom. Another idea that will help answer the question of what to do with a child in the bathroom. While bathing, you can engage in the development of the child - study geometric figures, numbers, letters... simply by drawing them on the tiles and voicing them to the baby. And also repeat colors. In addition, do not forget that finger painting has a positive effect on development. fine motor skills, which is responsible for speech development. After the baby has drawn enough, hand him a sponge, he will be happy to wash off his art.
- You can draw while swimming using finger paints, you can buy them, or you can make them yourself (I wrote earlier). Give your favorite little one some finger paints and invite them to paint on the tiles. Finger paints can be easily washed off both from the child and from the surfaces on which he paints. So don’t be afraid that after swimming you will have to wash off your paint for many hours.
- Colored washable markers are also suitable for drawing while your baby is bathing.
- Colored toothpaste will come to the rescue if you don’t have colored markers or finger paints, but you have a great desire to draw with your child.
Other educational games for the bathroom:
- Basketball. Give your child small balls or balls, and the role of a “basket” will be played by a plastic plate floating in the water. Invite your child to throw balls into a plate. The child develops accuracy and manual dexterity.
- Let different things float on the water balls, molds, fish. Give your child a net and let the child use it to catch floating objects.
- We teach body parts. The most the best place for studying anatomy - this is a bath. While washing the baby, we soap various parts of the baby's body and name them. We wash the hand - we say “we wash the left hand, the right hand, and now we soap the leg...” Don’t forget about the shoulder blades, heels, knees. Soon the child himself will begin to name parts of the body, all you have to do is praise him and wash him)
- Place at the bottom of the bath pebbles(you can replace them, for example, with beans or buttons) and invite your child to collect them. This game has a very good effect on the development of fine motor skills. But you need to make sure that the baby does not put a couple of mined pebbles in his mouth.
- Give your baby a toy mug and place the cup. Offer to fill a cup with water and count how many cups of water will fit in it. Thus, the baby, playing and filling the cup with water, will repeat the count.
- Bubble- a favorite pastime of many children. Why not blow soap bubbles while bathing in the bath? By the way, you don’t have to use store-bought ones; you can make your own from baby shampoo, which you mix in equal proportions with water. Blow bubbles with cocktail straws. You can arrange a competition to see who has the biggest bubble and who has flown the farthest. You can drop soap bubbles onto your palm and blow them away.
- The baby has a rubber doll? Take it into the bath when you give your baby a bath. Tell your baby that the doll is dirty and needs to be washed - give him a separate “doll” sponge and let him wash it, naming the body parts while washing. And after that, you can offer to wash the doll’s clothes. You can complete the doll’s bathing with a tea party, which can easily be arranged right in the bathroom.
Of course, these are not all educational games while bathing a child. Use your imagination and you will definitely come up with many more interesting and exciting games while bathing your baby. Share in the comments your ideas for games that you play with your baby during bath time, I will be very interested to know! Well, I say goodbye to you until the next article)) Bye-bye!
These simple bath games will help you have more fun with your baby. Time flies very quickly, and soon you will remember how great you spent time with your child in the bath and helped him make the most interesting discoveries!
Water is a magical medicine. It has a beneficial effect on both adults and children. While adults associate bathing with resorts, sun loungers and sports equipment, children make do with a bucket, two or three cups and bottles. Bathing is a great opportunity for fun, so it seems unfair that time is often reserved for it at the end of the day, when children and parents are already tired. Troubles begin at the moment when children still want to play, and adults dream of quickly sending them to bed, so that they can then wash the dishes, discuss some business among themselves, or just go to bed. Make bathing a pleasant procedure and not a source of irritation. Treat it not as an annoying chore, but as a joyful moment of fun. If your bathroom is large enough, bring a chair, but if not, put a rug so you can kneel and lean toward your baby.
If you know you'll be busy for the rest of the day, try giving your baby a bath before lunch. Two types of bathing can be introduced. Explain to your child that sometimes in the evenings, when there is no time, bathing will be for “washing” purposes only. On these days, he should wash himself as quickly as possible. That being said, it's a good idea to take time to see how quickly your child can handle this task; or use an hourglass and let the swim end before the sand runs out. But on other days you should find time to turn bathing into a game. You can use multi-colored bath mats so that the child knows what kind of bath he will have today.
Bath time is a fun way to end the day. Most children love to play with water and splash it around. Keep a hanger, net or basket of toys in your bathroom at all times.
Use some of the water games suggested in this book and let your child create his own. But do not leave young children alone in the bathroom, even for a few minutes, until you are sure they know how to handle water and know the safety rules. Never allow children to get in and out of a slippery bathtub without help.
Soap foam game
Your child can have a great time taking shaving cream and finger painting the bathroom walls. It's a great way to release energy, and who knows, maybe you'll discover a young Picasso. It's also a good idea to use a shaving brush. It can be used to entertain your child while washing his hair. And children who don't like having their hair washed can be easily occupied by collecting foam from their hair and painting the walls with it.
While washing your hair, stop for a minute and try to ■ “sculpt” a sculpture out of soapy hair. Bring a mirror so your child can see this “work of art” on their head.
Aquarium in the bathroom
Cut from inexpensive terry napkins or towels different colors fish-shaped shreds. They should not be too small, otherwise they will be unrecognizable, and too large, they will become heavy when wet. During bathing, let the child wash his feet with a red fish and his nose with a green one. You can wash your hands and feet with yellow fish, and other parts of your body with green fish.
How to cut
The shape of the fish is usually a horizontal oval, connected by the “sharp” side to the top of a small triangle.
Whistle-squeal
For fun, introduce elements of “science fiction” into the bathing process. Break off a small piece of Alka Seltzer and place it in the film box. You can also use a small plastic medicine box. Fill it with water to the brim and close the lid tightly. Then give it to your child and let him feel the water bubbling inside. After a few minutes, the solution, bursting out, will produce a mini-explosion right in the bathroom. The lid will fly off and the bubbles will crawl down the wall of the box. Although the liquid is harmless and not dangerous to the eyes, it is best to keep the box away from your child's face.
Magic games with water
Here are a few more fun games in the bathroom. Have your child fill a plastic cup with water, then cover it with a piece of paper. Pressing it with his hand, he must turn the cup upside down. Now, carefully sliding along the paper, you can move your hand away. The trick is that the water does not pour out. (If you have difficulty, use a container with a wider mouth and a shallower one.) Your child may not understand that the air pressure acting on the paper from below prevents the water from spilling out, but he will certainly enjoy the peculiar " scientific experiment" Explain to him that the same laws that hold water in place help airplanes fly.
So magical" scientific experiments» develop curiosity. Try another amazing experiment. Have your child crumple up a paper handkerchief or napkin and place the wad in the bottom of a plastic cup. Then he must turn it upside down, making sure that the paper remains inside. After this, you need to place the inverted cup on the surface of the water strictly horizontally. When the child picks it up, he will be amazed to see that the paper remains dry. (But crumple the paper lightly and carefully. If you squeeze it too hard, it will fall out of the cup before the experiment begins.) Later, the child will understand that the air in the cup exerts resistance, creating air bubble, which prevents liquid from entering the cup.
Basketball
You can even play basketball while swimming. All you need is a small foam ball and a large plastic bowl floating in the bathtub. Invite your child to hit the basket three times in a row or do it in six shots. But remind him: you can't stand up in the bathroom.
Music in the bathroom
Bathing can also provide aesthetic pleasure when it is accompanied by symphonic music or a choir from “My Fair Lady”, songs by Elvis Presley or Elton John. Bring a battery-powered cassette recorder into the bathroom, and every evening your child will wash himself while also enjoying the music. Classical music will calm an overly excited baby, rock music will support wild fun, and if you also want to sing, then turn on music from musicals. Playing music while swimming can be especially helpful if you feel tired and want to relax.
Dancing with a towel
If you have a tape recorder or radio playing in your bathroom, you can invite your child to dance to the sound of music while drying himself.
Lullaby in the bath
If your baby is too excited, do not play invigorating music during bath time: marches or country music. It’s better to bring recordings of lullabies into the bathroom and make bathing quiet and calm so that the child can relax to these soothing melodies.
Shower time
As your child gets older, you can allow him to shower occasionally. In order for children to love the shower, they first need to wash only under the supervision of their parents, and after a while they will no longer be afraid of water pouring into their faces. And then choose optimal time for swimming - morning or evening.
Clean the bathroom
Let your child prepare supplies for cleaning the bathtub and tiles on the walls. An old toothbrush, a nail brush, a scrubbing brush, a sponge, and a thoroughly washed shampoo bottle may be useful for this. The baby will have fun filling it and pouring water onto the brush or sponge. Perhaps the child will want dolls and other toys to be bathed too. When he carefully washes the bathtub, walls and toys, he will also happily rub his little body.
Toy bath
Adults like to take a bath alone, but children enjoy having someone to keep them company. Keep a small bucket in the bathroom with different plastic people or animals. Let the child decide which of them are best placed on the corners of the bathtub, and which ones will dive into the soapy foam this evening, while saying: “I think they told us that it’s time to soap up and bathe.”
Wash your nose, wash your feet
Sometimes it can be difficult to stop a cheerful child from washing himself. Try to focus his attention on something: let the child wash each part of the body in turn. At the same time, quickly name individual parts of the body, especially those that are located far from each other (for example, the nose, and then the knees). This will add dynamism to the game and reduce bath time, forcing the child to wash himself faster. For a change, you can sing some calm song* or while the child is washing, let him try to compose a poem about each part of the body.
Like this one:
The washcloth and I have no time for boredom,
I rub my hands with soap,
I rub my feet with soap -
This is me erasing myself.
Bubble
If you don't already know how much fun children get from playing with plastic straws, now you have the opportunity. Bring a few plastic cups or bowls and a few straws into the bathroom. Let the child pour them different quantities water and will try to blow bubbles in each of them. In what volume of water is it easier to blow bubbles - small or large? Invite him to blow a huge bubble right in the bath, or as many bubbles as possible, or a hundred small bubbles, or just two bubbles. He will have fun conducting a “science experiment.”
Warning
Blowing bubbles is not safe for the breathing of very young children. Wait until they're older and you'll have no problem keeping soap away from their eyes, ears, and mouths.
They hit the target
By decorating the bathtub and walls with shaving cream or shampoo, your child has the perfect opportunity to wash it off. Using a water pistol or plastic bottle, he aims at a soapy target to hit it. Observe how long it takes. To test accuracy, invite your child to place light plastic toys - cubes, small animals or paper cups on the edge of the bathtub against the wall. The point of shooting is to drop the first object, move the rest from one corner of the bath to another, or simply throw them into the water. Stack several toys on top of each other, making a pyramid, and let the child throw it into the water with a shot - this will cause great delight, and in addition, will help in training accuracy.
Sinks or swims
Encourage your child to bathe a few toys in the bath (making sure they won't be damaged by the water first). Let him put each toy in the water and separate them into floating and sinking. If your baby enjoys playing with floating toys, let him choose a few items from the kitchen that he can take into the bath and “sort” them there. Advise him to guess which of them will float and which will not; then, of course, this needs to be checked.
Practical knowledge
You can tell your child that objects that float on the surface of water are less dense, that is, they weigh less than water enclosed in the same volume. If a body sinks, then it is denser and weighs much more than the corresponding “water body”. Don't explain in too much detail. Ability to abstract thinking for children it comes later. Now your child is just experimenting. When his brain develops and is ready to accept theory, the experience will help him in his studies. This applies to many children's games. IN preschool age What is important is not that children absorb any knowledge, but what they accumulate practical experience, which they later use in their learning process. If your child asks “why?”, keep your answers simple and clear so that this question will benefit him and not serve as an introduction to a boring rant.
Cute sponge
Buy large thin foam sponges at the store. Cut out different figures from them - these could be fish, flowers or a soccer ball. Your child can play in the water with these fun sponges and then wash themselves with them. You'll see how much more fun it is to wash yourself with a yellow soccer ball than with a colorless old washcloth.
Cruise
It is not necessary to buy a whole flotilla of ships for your little sailor. He will have no less fun making simple boats with his own hands to play with while swimming. Making a raft or boat is easy. If you want to build a raft, you first need to enjoy eating the popsicle and save the stick from it. As soon as you eat twelve pieces, you can start. Glue eight sticks side by side with four sticks, placing them crosswise on one side of the raft and on the other - and you will get a wonderful raft for toys. To make a boat, you need to cut out a triangle-sail from paper and glue it to a toothpick. Then secure the toothpick mast inside a plastic box or paper cup - and the ship is ready to sail.
Even though your kids are getting older, they still enjoy floating boats in the bathroom. Tape a plastic-covered map to your bathroom wall and dream of traveling to Spain, Kathmandu or Zanzibar. See if you can get there by ship. This way you will not only play with your child, but also be able to teach him a little geography lesson.
From empty to empty
Children love to play with water, endlessly pouring it from one vessel to another, back and forth. Give your baby plastic jugs and bottles in different colors and sizes. From time to time, replace some vessels with others, changing their shape and size.
Piaget, a famous child psychologist, believes that children develop quantitative concepts very slowly. This means that they will claim that a tall, narrow pint bottle contains more water than a pint jar, even if they pour the water from the bottle into the jar several times. Quantitative concepts develop with age, and this process cannot be accelerated. But children who have extensive practical experience playing with various volumes water, these ideas are absorbed faster. Moreover, children get great pleasure from this activity.
Doll bath
Give the child sitting in the bath a large rubber doll and a sponge. Let him thoroughly wash every part of her body, commenting in detail on his every action. At the same time, you gently rub the same parts of his body.
Children's Corner
Let a few plastic frogs, fish or small dolls have a festive tea party in the bathroom. Give your child toy cups, saucers and glasses so that he can treat them appropriately.
Linen bath
Over the years, it is easy to forget how pleasant it can sometimes be to stretch out in a warm bath, drowning in the foam caressing your body and even remembering some cute scene from a film of the forties. Children can be a great way to help us remember this. Pick an evening when you need to relax. Reward each other with a bubble bath. You can do this together or, after sending your baby to bed, enjoy it alone. If you catch yourself thinking: “I don’t have time for such nonsense,” repeat after us: “How bad it would be if life consisted only of work and there were no pleasures in it at all.” This advice, by the way, is useful both for very busy and tired dads and for moms who are always in a hurry to get somewhere.
Anatomy lesson
Not everyone can carry it out, since this requires knowledge of anatomy. But if your understanding of body structure extends a little further than the difference between an elbow and a knee, you can safely use bath time to teach a fun anatomy lesson to your child. One evening you can tell him where the solar plexus is located, barely. Next time you will explain where the esophagus is. Ask if your little one would like to wash their heels today. Let him have fun discovering new words for himself.
Here are some more bathroom games:
1. When you wash your child’s hair with shampoo, you can make horns or a hedgehog or a mohawk from the soapy hair. Let your child look at himself in the mirror. Maybe after this he will begin to come up with other forms that you have not seen before.
2. Or you can make a charming hat for your child out of foam. Let him admire it. Then he will come up with models himself and thereby develop his imagination. Great, right?
3. Foam can be used to draw maps on the wall
A visit to the bathroom can also keep your child entertained and free you up for some time to do household chores or just relax. Small children should not be left alone in the bathroom: you will have to watch the baby. But in the bathroom, the child can perfectly occupy himself. And if you put a basin filled with water at his disposal, he will successfully bathe the toys, giving his parents the opportunity to go about their business. In the bathroom you can store toys intended for bathing your baby.
Spending time in the bath can be your baby's way of learning about the world. Give your child different things that float and sink, plastic cups various forms, unbreakable cups. Let your baby try to drown “unsinkable” toys or leave heavier objects afloat; he will see that a glass filled with a small amount of water floats quite successfully. All this contributes to the development of the child.
Foam patterns
Using ordinary shaving foam, a child can paint the walls of the bathroom. Tile washes off perfectly. And with the help of shaving foam, your baby will give an outlet for his energy and creativity. To add variety to the game, provide your child with a shaving brush or a paint brush. You can add other colors to your shaving foam by adding a small amount of food coloring.
And after the “beauty” in the bathroom has been restored and the child is bored with this activity, invite him to wash off the soap patterns. To do this, you will need a water pistol or a plastic bottle with a hole made in the lid. Let the baby aim at the soap targets. This exercise will help train your eye.
Cleanliness is the key to health
Encourage your baby to clean the bathroom before he starts bathing. Give him the old one toothbrush, sponge, basin with water. The baby will enthusiastically start cleaning the area allocated to him, giving his mother the opportunity to go about her business. You can also ask your child to wash his toys.
Floats or sinks
Invite your child to buy a few toys from the bathtub. Let the baby divide his toys into floating and sinking ones. Advise your child to guess which everyday objects (bottles of shampoo and liquid soap, pots and cups, dish sponges and washcloths) will float and some will sink. At the same time, you can tell your baby that objects that can float on the surface of water weigh less than water.
Baby pool
Buy thin foam sponges. Cut out a variety of figures from them - fish and flowers, balls and starfish. Your baby can play with these sponges while sitting in the bathtub, and then use them to wash themselves.
Pouring water
Invite your child to pour water from one container to another. Give your child plastic bottles, jars and cups different sizes and flowers. Through this fun game for toddlers, children begin to develop quantitative concepts. At first, the child will be convinced that a tall, narrow bottle contains more water than a short can of exactly the same volume. But gradually your baby will come to the conclusion that both containers contain the same amount of water.