I don’t know about your kiddo, but mine is absolutely OBSESSED with bath toys. I think we started out with the letters of the alphabet which can be bought from many local supermarkets, and progressed to a huge collection which included numbers, animals, cars, dinosaurs, and then a whole host of spinning water wheels and wind-up critters. The collection is so vast, that we have a big storage container of them at the bath-side. You’d think a three-year-old would forget what said mountain of bath toys consisted of, but you’d be wrong! Aidan’s dad has an eidetic memory, and it looks very much like our kiddo has one too! He will regularly go looking through his box for a particular bath toy, which is why I’m so hesitant to dispose of any. I’ve read so many accounts online of autism moms getting rid of old or broken toys, and all hell breaking loose when their child notices their absence, or goes looking for that one particular item! I even read a post about a mom who got rid of an old, nasty, destroyed armchair, and her nine-year-old attempted to bring it back into the house from the curb because he didn’t want to part with it! So needless to say, I don’t remove anything from Aidan’s collection, but it does take some looking after.
Anything that gets wet, needs to be cleaned. Otherwise, it’s prone to growing mould and proliferating bacteria. Both can make a young child very ill indeed. So, at least once a week, every single bath toy we own goes into a bathtub of Savlon liquid, and the toys that suck in bath water, suck in disinfectant instead, and are carefully emptied again. Then I lay all the toys out on a few towels so they can dry individually and thoroughly before being put away. I’m no longer the neat-freak I used to be, because it’s hard to keep a tidy house with a toddler around, but my horror of germs remains perfectly intact. So I’ve got disinfectant for just about every items and surface in this house, if needed!
When Aidan was a bit younger, he’d fill his bath tub with toys! We would then play games with the different genres. We’d go through the foam alphabet in order, letter by letter. Or I’d ask him to pick and show me letters at random. And I think this game and the educational YouTube videos he loved to watch on repeat, helped him to learn his alphabet inside and out! We did the same with foam numbers up to 10, and once he’d mastered those, we went into early double digits. We did lots of different kinds of counting games, actually. Every evening, we’d stand by the bath tub as I ran the water, and I’d give him a random number, say “15”, and he’d dutifully pick 15 bath toys and drop them in one by one. I’d get him in, get him washed, and then we’d chuck those 15 toys out again, one by one. When he reached 15, I’d cheer, bang my hands on the side of the bath, and clap! The sound echoed and reverberated around the bathroom and he absolutely loved it. Most often, he’d request that we repeat this activity a few times over. This obviously meant that there was a lot of mess, and the bathroom floor was normally covered in towels soaking up puddles of bath water by the time he was ready to get out! We’d also identify lots of different animals by name, and he’d hand me the ones I asked for. If he didn’t know one, he’d look up at me for a prompt. In the beginning, he got a bit confused between animals that looked similar, like a seal and a walrus. Or a shark and a dolphin. Or a rhinoceros and a hippopotamus. But as we practiced, he began to positively identify each. I also sang a lot of songs with him in the bath, using his bath toys as props. We did “5 Little Ducks” with his mini rubber duckies, and Baby Shark with five different species of plastic shark. He loved Baby Shark so much, he made me sing it from start to finish – no skipping of any verses! Because he liked clapping and echoes, I did a few songs like, “If You’re Happy And You Know It…” and Queen’s “We Will Rock You.” We also practiced all our shapes and colours with a huge variety of bath crayons, giggled over his squeaky squirties, and I blew bubbles for him to pop over his bath tub. Basically, we had an absolute blast every evening!
I soon realised that I had Aidan’s undivided and full attention at bath time. He was super focused on me and all the games we were going to play together. This was pretty unusual for him because although his attention was good on his program and with his therapist, Monty and I found it hard to secure it in our own time with him. He wouldn’t take any instructions from us at all, and so I decided to use bath time as an opportunity to develop his receptive language and instruction-taking from mom. First we practiced simple demands: “look”, “here”, “point”, “want?”, “take”, “show me!”, “pop!”, “throw!”, “draw” and “give”. Then we practiced labels: “bubbles”, “*shapes”, “*colours”, “*letters”, “*numbers” and “*animals”. And finally we practiced sounds: “ba”, “da”, “fa”, “ma”, “ka”, and “ssss”. I would say words slowly and draw out the syllables. He ignored me at first, but as time went on, I saw him studying my mouth, lips, and tongue as I said words out loud. I always made sure to make my intonations long and clear, showing him what my tongue did in my mouth, and what my breath did in my throat, as I made each sound. I have no idea if this helped at all with the development of his receptive language, but I like to think it did! HIs level of understanding at 3.5 years old is now excellent! He understands most things we say to him, even if he can’t yet verbally respond. We still play a lot of these bath time games today, and I’m hoping that one day, they may also help develop his expressive language!
The only drawback to making bath time as fun as possible, is getting your kiddo out of the bath again! Because each of Aidan’s baths ran on for ages, what with all the games and shenanigans, I had a permanent trickle of warm water going into the bath throughout, to ensure that Aidan didn’t cool down too much as the water temperature dropped. I was afraid that keeping him active in cold water would make him sick! So at some point, the bath reached a highish level, and it was time to come out. Normally, I’d stand up, get his attention and say, “ready?”. Usually, he would accept that he’d had a very fun and involved session, be satisfied with all our games, and stand up to be lifted out. But sometimes, he just wanted the games, songs, drawing, and bubbles to continue, and he’d refuse to move. If that was the case, I’d pop my hand in and take out the plug. This ensured the bath didn’t run over, and the noise the drain made, and the sucking sensation underneath his bum, would make him uncomfortable enough to stand up almost instantly. I hated causing him anxiety though, so I always tried to get him to stand up on his own first. If he really really didn’t want me to terminate bath time, he’d begin to have a meltdown. And if that happened, I had no choice but to stick both my arms into a fairly deep bath, and deadlift him out as quickly and as carefully as possible. There are few things as dangerous as a meltdown in a ceramic bath tub or slippery bathroom, so I had to nip it in the bud as quickly as possible! I always felt a little let down when a nice and fun bath ended in a meltdown, but I also took it as a huge compliment. The fact that my kiddo didn’t want to get out, meant mom was doing a good job!
If your bub likes water, I encourage you to make bath time an adventure full of great activities! It’s a great time for bonding, but also for learning! There are so many different ways to engage your kiddo when they are having fun with their favourite element! And almost all the bath toys mentioned above are available from Takealot. If you notice that your child likes one in particular, my best advice is to get two! The picture can rub off of some of them, and others may become lost behind or underneath a bath tub. Possibly, even travel with your toddler to a different part of the house. Bath time is honestly one of my favourite times of day. I think I have just as much fun as Aidan does!
