Toys for the Tub

My 5 year old loves to play with his legos and hot wheels in the tub. We had the crayons (enjoyed those while they lasted) and the squirt toys and ducks. But his favorite so far is the legos and cars. Oh - and a plastic cup to dump water out over his head ! I don't remember what my older one liked at 7 (he's 10 now). We have a plastic tub in the bathroom and put a towel by the tub. When he gets out all his toys go on the towel to dry and then into the tub.

One I love that has many uses (including holding the toys when bath time is over) is a plastic colander!! You can fill it then lift it out of the tub and hold over the kids heads, they can wear it as a hat, they can use it to put their toys in too!!

In our tub, we have these hippos that when you push down on them, they make a whistle noise. We also have the squirt toys, a baby doll and some cups.

HTH!

The favorite toys for our kids right now are some plastic cups we had left over from something. They love to pretend they're baking and serving each other tea, soup, drinks.

Ours are 22 months, 3.5 years old. They still love playing with the bath tub letters that stick to the sides of the tub, crayola bath crayons (though they're expensive), and the old bottles from their bathwash/shampoo.

We have a plastic container in the bathroom that we drilled holes on the bottom to drain water out of to keep the items organized.

Hope that helps a little.
Good luck!

my daughter has boats in her bath and little fish...she makes the fist jump over the boats and pretends to sail the boats all over the tub. Your 1 and 3 year old could play fish and your 7year old could play boats? It really isnt messy...she also loves the foam pieces that stick to the wall. But really what makes bath time fun is me playing with her...we pretend that the fish are swimming to "get her belly" and we make up dora the explorer type advendtures to go on, so really you could use any bathtoys you want mixed with a fun imagination and have a great bathtime!

My 2 year old received some bath toys for Christmas that were a big hit. They are flat foam pieces that stick to the wall when wet. There are pieces that fit together to form a road and there are cars, buses, stop signs, etc. My kids like to design the road and then push the cars along on top of it.
Here's the link http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2401623

Good luck,
K.

My 4 yr old son loves to play with the color change hotwheels in the tub. The warm water makes them turn one color. I give him a small plastic cup with cold water and a couple of pieces of ice in it. He can use the ice pieces to draw on the warm cars or dip the cars in the cold water to change the color and back in the warm tub to change it back. He loves it!

Although they are a mess, my son likes the tub crayons and finger paints. You just need to scrub down the tub/shower afterward (let them use once per week when you'd be cleaning it anyway?) .

Our kids played with hotwheel cars, barbie dolls, action figures .. pretty much anything they wanted to play with in the tub. It is after all a fun, relaxing time for them. I would move the rug by the tub and place a large bath towel to catch any splashed water and then the toys would go on it for a few minutes while I was getting them in their pjs. The only restsriction I had on their "bath toys" was that they were strickly for water play (in the tub, outside pool ..) because they always seem to retain a little water somewhere inside them that leaks out randomly. After a little drying time on the towel, we would put them in a bucket under the sink until the next bath/water play time. Make you a stack of "bath barbies, cars, etc." I'm a neat freak too but I don't let it interfere with them having fun and remembering the good times. I don't want them to remember their childhood as the time mom was always freaked out about how things looked.

I second the posting about the bath crayons. I give my kids a washcloth and they clean while they play. The crayons wipe right off the tub and the tub surround so there is no mess. Have fun!

My 1 y.o. loves Boon brand bath toys. They were a gift, but I think you can get them at Target. Her favorite is the foam-like shapes that stick to the side of the bathtub. They are easy to clean up and stack. She will spend a long time arranging and rearranging them. They also double as good teethers. Have fun!

It is not really a toy, but my boys LOVE those little "tablets" you put under the running water when filling up the tub that changes the bath water. Each time they take a bath, they get to choose what color they want the water to be! It is safe, non-toxic, and a lot of fun.