Bathtime Activity: 18-24 Months

Give your child a washcloth and allow her to bathe a doll (or any other kind of plastic character, such as Elmo) in the tub. She'll have fun pretending to be the "grown-up" for a moment. You can ask her to follow simple directions using the doll, such as, "Can you wash the baby's cheeks?" or "Can you wash Elmo's feet?" She may even start telling you what she's going to do next, or you may notice that she's repeating the sequence of her own bathtime routine on the doll! After she's dry, allow her to choose between two sets of pajamas. As she chooses, talk to her about the one she chose (e.g., "You want to wear the green one with frogs tonight? Okay! I like that one too!"). At this age, she loves being in control, so try to give her as many opportunities as possible to make her own choices.

Possible Intervention Strategies & Supports

• Children are able to perform actions on themselves before they are able to do so on others. For example, it's easier for a child to understand, "Wash your feet," than it is to understand, "Wash Elmo's feet." If your child doesn't seem to understand how to pretend on a toy doll, don't worry. Just try to break the directions down for her and show her what to do. For example, you can ask her to, "Find Elmo's feet." If she needs help, touch Elmo's feet yourself as you say, "Elmo's feet!" Then show her how you wash Elmo's feet and say, "I'm washing Elmo's feet. You do it."

• Encourage your child to put two words together when talking about actions of toys during play. For example, talk about toys jumping into the bath with the same type of sentence, such as, "Fish jumps! Dog jumps!" This will allow her to fill in new words more easily.

• It's common for orthotics, such as braces and splints, to be introduced at this age. Having your child help take them off and put them back on can become part of your bathtime routine.

• The skill of undressing comes before dressing, so preparation for bathtime is a great time to encourage your child to remove clothing that she is able to take off. Shoes, socks, and pants/shorts are usually easier than shirts.

Tips

As always, make sure that the toys you give your child to play with in the tub are not too small. Children at this age may still put things in their mouths and could choke. Make sure that the toys or dolls you use don't have attached small parts that could come loose (e.g., a Barbie doll shoe). Also, you'll want to give her a doll or character that is large enough so that she can really see which body parts she's washing as opposed to using small plastic figurines.

Family Handout

Click here to download an editable one-page handout of this age range's bathtime activity, interventions, and tips.