Bath time can be considered an extension of playtime in our house. There is often making of “watermelon soup” in a pink watering can, construction of cities with foam blocks, and purple and green fish and dolphins diving through the water in addition to copious amount of splashing, squealing, and singing. But could there be something harmful lurking in the water? Well, if you have water squirting toys, like we did, the answer could be “Yes.”
“That spells M-O-L-D better than almost anything else I can think of.”
We had quite the collection of these toys for our tub…a basketball, a football, a crab, and classic rubber ducky to name a few. While these made for some good fun while in the tub, we never made sure to “empty” the water from them at the end of bathtime. Overtime, can you even imagine how much water was left inside these toys? Standing water in a dark enclosed area with no way to get out. That spells M-O-L-D better than almost anything else I can think of.
My curiosity got the best of me, so I decided to cut open one of these toys the other day, and here is what I found.
WOW! To think my kids were bathing with these and still using them to squirt water at each other! GROSS (and maybe truly harmful to their health)! Well, we have now had a revamping to our toy repertoire in the bathtub!
Toys that make good bathtime entertainment should have good drainage. It’s like your yard…no one wants standing water. Non-absorbing foam blocks that can be stuck to the walls of the tub or on the tile make a good choice since they cannot retain water. These often come in letters, shapes, and building blocks which can be both fun and educational (might as well use bathtime to learn about something). Stacking cups with holes in the bottom also make good toys and are functional for rinsing the soap out of hair. For those special occasions in the tub, bath crayons and bath paint can certainly be exciting options for bathtime fun, too. A word of warning with these though (after personal experience), keep them away from any grout…unless you want your bath tile to be highlighted by rainbow grout! Finally, if you are going to have toys in the tub that have holes that allow water inside, you can try to “plug” the toy by placing a dab of hot glue over the hole. In most cases, this will keep the majority of water out of the toy, at least for a period of time.
So in order to keep your children from shooting each other, most typically in the eye or in the mouth, with stagnant water that has been sitting in an adorable water squirting toy for days, weeks or even months (ugh), make sure these particular toys have a very short life-span (if any at all) in your bathtub.