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Multi-Sensory Bath Times!

May 11, 2011 by Anna Ranson

If you follow me on Facebook you may remember I posted a while back about the pink bath that I gave the girls one day! And I wondered how I had never thought of something so simple and fun before?!

                            

Well, since that day, we’ve been having a lot of fun experimenting with colours and flavours to add to our baths! We tried mixing green food colouring with eucalyptus and menthol oils! The bath smelt amazing and was great for opening up their airways and easing their colds a little.

                            
Then we tried purple food colouring and added lavender oils! The girls both smelt absolutely wonderful that evening.

     
And we added orange food colouring with vanilla flavouring. The whole bathroom smelt like a sweet shop. Mmmmm, delicious! 
We have also tried pink colouring with strawberry flavouring and blue colouring with peppermint!

The colouring does NOT stain the skin or the bath. It just washes straight down the plug, no problem! (You may want to test first if you are worried.)

Besides adding a lot of fun it was also a feast for the senses and provoked lots of chat and questioning from 2 year old C. Using coloured water also makes the water play much more interesting as the water can be seen inside clear plastic bottles and is wonderful to watch as it pours and sprinkles from various toys and containers!

Have you ever tried making bath time more exciting? What did you do?

This activity is good for:
* exploring the world using all of the senses
* messy/ sensory play
*early maths:  exploring capacity by filling and emptying containers and talking about full/ half full/ empty
* early literacy: descriptive language development- describing how something looks and smells and what it reminds you of eg “this bath smells like sweeties!”

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Filed Under: Baby, Sensory, Toddler, Water Play Tagged With: Sensory Play

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Comments

  1. Messy Kids says

    May 11, 2011 at 4:20 pm

    OMGosh! Have you ever read the book Kid Tea? Your colored baths remind me of that book! Michael used to love it! We borrowed it from the library but I so need to buy it!

  2. Itsy Bitsy Learners says

    May 11, 2011 at 4:41 pm

    Guess we are having a purple bath tonight !! Thanks for the idea 😛

  3. Anonymous says

    May 11, 2011 at 4:41 pm

    it doesn’t make your kids turn colors?

  4. Anonymous says

    May 11, 2011 at 4:42 pm

    My kids have light skin and my daughter has light hair, does the coloring stay on their hair/skin?

  5. Anna @ The Imagination Tree says

    May 11, 2011 at 4:45 pm

    Hi Anon! I have just gone back to answer that question as it was pretty silly of me not to mention it! I have found that NONE of the colours used so far have stained anything! We used liquid food colouring and in some cases used quite a lot, but it didn’t even stain the wash cloths. If you are worried maybe try a but in the sink first? My older girl is quite pale with fair hair and we had no probs. BTW we haven’t tried red and I know that’s a strong colour. Maybe try a different one first!

  6. Anna @ The Imagination Tree says

    May 11, 2011 at 5:06 pm

    Rachele I’ve just looked up that book and it looks PERFECT! And it rhymes too. I need it! Thanks for the recommendation 🙂

  7. Melissa @ The Chocolate Muffin Tree says

    May 11, 2011 at 6:24 pm

    This is so Fabulous! SO glad to be a fan of your blog!

  8. Crisc says

    May 11, 2011 at 6:26 pm

    SO fun!

  9. Kendra Dixson says

    May 11, 2011 at 9:16 pm

    First question that came to mind was, did they try to drink the bath water? Hope not! lol

  10. Erica says

    May 11, 2011 at 9:49 pm

    My girls would love this, I had a molton brown bath salt that turned the water green and she has asked for a green bath ever since. Will try it tomorrow.

  11. Anna @ The Imagination Tree says

    May 11, 2011 at 11:17 pm

    Haha Kendra! They don’t tend to drink their bath water! 🙂

  12. Heather @ Preschool Buddy says

    May 11, 2011 at 11:57 pm

    I love this idea! I want to try it tomorrow with my kids. Thanks for the inspiration : )

  13. Gina says

    May 12, 2011 at 5:54 am

    This looks great! I need to buy some oils ASAP! I have vanilla…do you need a lot to make the aroma strong?
    I love how you add what the activity is good for at the end of the post…it reminds me that I need to start doing that more often in my blogs.
    Thanks for the great ideas!

  14. Rashmie @ MommyLabs says

    May 12, 2011 at 1:37 pm

    This is so awesome! I am showing this to my daughter right now and she says she wants orange bath! I can’t wait try to try this! So excited!

  15. Kristin @ Preschool Universe says

    May 14, 2011 at 4:37 am

    This is great fun! I’m also completely jealous of that gorgeous bathtub 😉

  16. The Kuhn Family says

    February 21, 2012 at 7:32 am

    Where do you buy the oils for the baths?

  17. Jolynn's Hobby Shop says

    February 21, 2012 at 6:22 pm

    I featured this on my blog here http://jolynnshobbyshop.blogspot.com/2012/02/tuesday-likes.html after seeing this on Pinterest

  18. octarinefire says

    February 27, 2012 at 12:59 pm

    We did a blue bath, it was brilliant. But the green one stained *everything*, bathmat, toys, fingernails… 🙁

  19. Georgia says

    September 19, 2012 at 1:23 pm

    what brand of food colouring do you use?

  20. Anonymous says

    October 14, 2012 at 9:42 pm

    Have you tried glow sticks in the bath? It’s a lovely light sensory experience as the water glows. Of course, the best effect is with the lights dimmed or off. I found night lights in the electrical outlets gave off enough light for safety while you watch your little ones.

  21. Anonymous says

    December 12, 2012 at 6:18 pm

    I think my kids would absolulty love this but I have 1 question could the cause UTIs???? with the food couloring.

  22. Anonymous says

    January 22, 2013 at 5:13 pm

    This is great im always looking for fun things to do with my 2 year old she loves trying new things!! red bath here we come!!

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About The Imagination Tree Hello and welcome! I'm Anna, Mama of 4, early years teacher and play enthusiast from the UK! Click here to read more about me.

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