10 Perfect Bath Toys for Older Kids to Keep It FUN

Inside: Not sure how to keep bath time fun and enjoyable as your kids get older? These bath toys for older kids are perfect to keep baths fun.

Bath time. These are magical words in our home. Sure, I bathe my kids to clean them up and keep them healthy but bath time is so much more than that.

Bath time is a time when everyone is HAPPY. The kids (no matter how whining was going on moments before) love to play, explore different senses, splash around, pretend they’re in the pool…

I love to sit happily next to the tub letting the exhaustion of the day slowly melt away to the background noise of giggles and bubbles.

It’s not just me either.

I was headed out for a girls night, so in an effort to make the night alone with the kids a breeze for my husband, I gave the kids an early afternoon bath.

When I mentioned it to him before heading out the door, I saw the look of horror on his face. That is when my husband shared his secret to an easy night alone with the kids was allowing them extra time to play in the bath.

Needless to say, we don’t plan to “outgrow” bath time any time soon. However, as we attempt to stuff more children into the bath and my oldest grows so long that he can barely lay flat in the tub (we grow tall kids), I realized that all the bath toys we had were geared at little kids (rubber duckies galore).

Sure, toys are totally an extra perk for bath time. The kids could have a blast with nothing but water, but I have found toys reduce the number of the disagreements among siblings and help keep a little more of the water actually in the tub.

Whether you want to try out bath time as an evening activity that’ll help everyone make it to bedtime a little more cheerfully or you are looking for some new ideas, here is my favorite list of bath toys for older kids.

(Full disclosure: As our family grows these are also great bath toys for toddlers too. We love the dual purpose of them).

10 Best Bath Toys for Older Kids

Rub a Dub Jungle Waterfall 

We LOVE this toy. It reminds me of the water play my kids dive into at our local children’s museum. My son and daughter love to easily create different set ups with the suction pieces and see how the water flow changes.

They were having so much fun creating and exploring with this toy that I bought the these great building pipes and water gears so that they could expand their formation and experiment with other  mechanisms.

Princesses in the Tub  (or Pirates for the Tub)

My kids first played with the Rub a Dub Princesses in the Tub as toddlers at their cousin’s house and didn’t want to stop. I enjoyed watching their imaginations take off. This toy opened up a whole new world to them at bath time.

When we got home, we got them the Rub a Dub Pirates for the Tub kit so they could turn bath time into a pirate adventure at sea and since they’re in the water with the toys it seems to really enhance the imaginative play. Now that they are older, it’s still a huge favorite.

Ferry Boat with Mini Cars

I don’t know about you, but my oldest loves cars. He stuffs him in his pockets, carries them in both hands, and sneaks them into my purse before we leave the house.

I found this Green Toys Ferry Boat. It has cars that are designed to get wet (and float!) so they won’t rust out and they are made from 100% recycled plastic. They have some awesome looking other options too including a really cool helicopter.

Rub a Dub Water Flutes

We encourage music exploration as much as possible in our home, so when I saw these flutes for the water I just had to try them. While they certainly make for a noisy bath, the kids have a blast with them. Works well for toddlers and older kids.

Ocean Sea Animal Set

This great set has 18 different sea animals that transform your child’s bathtub into the ocean. Again, we gravitate towards toys that provide opportunities to engage imagination. These are great quality and more life like than the others I have found.

Spray Station Water Pump

My strong willed child always wants to shower himself with the removable shower head. I’m not that cool of a mom though (read: I don’t want to clean up water from all over the bathroom). This toy has a great mini shower and the other water funnels grab my son’s attention and direct the spraying in the direction of the bath instead across the bathroom at me.

Dress Up Bath Time Stickers

I snagged these during our my son’s preschool Spanish unit on getting dressed. He could practice all of his new Spanish vocab while playing in the tub by dressing up the dolls. He still plays with it all the time and his little sister is having a great time with them too.

Surprise Color Changing Horse

I used to think I could just throw any toy into the bath and it’d become a bath toy. Until I found the mold…ick! I had to toss our ponies out and found this great replacement. Not only is it designed for the bath, but the color changes with the water too.

Teach My Preschooler Spelling Toy 

Sometimes when it rains, we take a bath in the middle of the day. It’s hard for my kids to stay cooped up inside all day and the bath creates a welcomed change of environment. It’s fun to pull out this spelling game and work on it with my son. We are always practicing his alphabet and pre-reading skills and he thinks it’s really fun that I allow them to color on the walls for once 🙂

What’s your favorite bath toy for older kids? Share in the comments and I’ll add it to the list.

Want more on parenting?

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