5 Ideas for Encouraging Language Development at Bath Time

For many families, bath time is one of the highlights of the day.  There’s just something about water that makes everything more fun.  While going about the business of getting clean, here are 5 ideas for working on early language skills in the tub!

1.     Target specific vocabulary.  There are some vocabulary items that just don’t come up anywhere else in your child’s day.  Take the opportunity to talk about items and actions that are exclusive to the tub such as soap, bubbles, scrub, splash, wash, cloth, towel etc.  When it comes to new vocabulary, be sure to repeat new words often.  Bring in as many cues as you can to help your child learn what the word means and to remember it.  For example, if talking about soap, discuss the soap’s colour, encourage your child to touch it, demonstrate what you do with it, talk about how it gets your child’s different body parts clean, how it floats, etc.  The more your child knows about a vocabulary item, the easier it will be for them to call it to mind when they want to use the word.

2.     Practice your body parts.  There is no better time to talk about body parts than when we are working on getting them clean!  Help younger children to learn their body parts by labelling them for them.  Encourage older children to find the parts themselves (E.g. can you wash your elbow?).

3.     Target concepts.  Bath time is a great opportunity to teach or reinforce some of our early developing concepts.  Hot/cold can be easily practiced by turning on and off the taps and in/on/under can be targeted while moving your bodies or toys through the water.  Other concepts to consider playing around with include: dirty/clean, full/empty, wet/dry. 

4.     Practice following directions.  Try a ‘Simon Says’ type game giving simple directions.  Younger children may do better with a simple one-step direction such as “wash your arm”, while slightly older children may be able to follow two- or three-step directions such as “first splash the water then blow bubbles”. 

5.     Narrate your routine.  Talk aloud as you go through each part of the routine (e.g. shirt off, wash feet, dry hair).  Because most families do bath time each night, this repetition really adds up!    

Remember that language practice shouldn’t feel like work.  Keep it light and have fun!