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Bath time is the perfect time for lessons! It is a great way to teach them while they are contained to one area and can’t easily run away. AND there are so many educational toys for bath time. We have bought a few and here are my favorites!
Our son had a strong desire to learn things early on. I realized this and took full advantage of it.
Super Why was his favorite show to watch. And I credit a lot of his knowledge on the alphabet to that show. We bought him the DVDs and he watched it on PBS kids a lot. Once I seen him repeating the letters at just one year old from that show, I bought him these foam letters from Amazon to play with in the bath. Those foam letters are still part of our home school curriculum and they only cost $5!
Every night while bathing him, we would practice those letters. Mainly it involved me holding up a letter and saying what it was. Eventually, he started doing the same thing. He would hold up a letter to show me and then say the letter.
Pretty soon, he could recognize them all but not yet say all of them. I could ask him where a letter was and he could easily find it for me. For example, I would ask him “Where is the letter K?” and he would hold it up or point to it. He really loved doing this every night.
I also printed off and laminated some Alphabet cards. The free Alphabet cards came from one of my favorite blogs- 123Homeschool4Me.com. She has tons of neat printable’s and ideas for your little ones. And if you don’t have a laminator, I would recommend this one to anyone I know. It has been the best and I use it all the time!
I put those cards on the wall for him to look at so he could learn both uppercase and lowercase letters. He loved it! I left those cards up for several months until I painted that room.
Now that he knows them all, he’s gotten bored with it and we’ve moved on to doing a foam United States puzzle in the bath. He really enjoys it and can identify about five states so far!
Other bath items we have used are:
- The bath spout cover– This thing has saved our kids from scratched up backs many times.
- Sensory Development Toy– Both of my kids have enjoyed this toy! We’ve talked about the different colors, the wheels, the eyes, and practicing how to pour water.
Doubting if your toddler could learn the alphabet and states this early? Don’t! It’s possible. Young minds are literally like sponges. They soak up everything! And with a continuous lesson such as bath time, your little one could learn this in no time!
Homeschooling & All Things Pets! 