Paint the Tub, KIDFUN Style!

Here’s a tip that may be helpful with kids who either don’t look forward to the bath, don’t love having their hair shampoo’d or love to make bathtime funtime! It’s called Paint the Tub, but it’s not using bathtub paints it’s using the lather from shampoo.

The other night I gave my granddaughter Ryan a bath. She’s 2 1/2 and  has the most beautiful long hair but shampooing is far from her favorite thing. Her mother, my daughter Amy, had some brand new paint brushes in the house — some narrow ones, a middle sized foam one and a slightly larger one. When I babysat, Ryan and I took the paintbrushes to the bath so we could “paint the tub!” She definitely thought her grandmother was confused! She complained as I put the shampoo on her head. She didn’t want me to lather it but when I finally squeezed some lather into my hand, I said, “Look, it’s paint! Put your paintbrush in it!” She was intrigued …. she painted the walls, her toys, the side of the tub, anything she could and, of course, we needed more “paint,” so what could I do? I had to lather her up. We used a clean spray bottle filled with water to spray the lather off everything and, then as quickly as possible, I got the shampoo out of her hair.

And, it’s like magic!! We got her hair shampoo’d and she had so much fun she can’t wait to paint the tub again!