Promoting Language Development During Bathtime

We know that children learn through play, but another highly effective way to enhance speech and language skills is by modeling language during everyday activities. Daily tasks such as getting dressed, brushing our teeth, getting in/out of and riding in the car, and taking a bath are familiar to our children, and as we pair language with their routines, they quickly make connections.

Incorporating language modeling into everyday routines is highly beneficial because it provides a natural context for learning, making new words easier to understand and remember. The repetitive nature of these tasks offers multiple opportunities for practice and reinforcement, and the structured and predictable nature of these routines provides a supportive environment for language learning. Children learn to use language functionally, in meaningful ways, which helps them understand the practical application of communication.

Tips for Building Language During Bathtime:

Describe What You and Your Child Are Doing- Model language as you are getting ready for the bath:

“Let’s fill up the tub."
"I’m going to add bubbles.”
"Time to take off our clothes and get in."

During bath time:

“I’m washing your arms."
"I’m washing your hair."
"You’re playing with the fish."
"The fish is swimming."
"You’re popping bubbles.”
"The tub is full of water."

After bath time:

“Time to drain the water."
"The tub is empty."
"Let’s get your towel."
"Dry off with your towel."
"Let’s dry your hair, feet, etc."

Building Vocabulary- Use bath-specific words like water, soap, wash, splash, washcloth, towel, scrub, bubbles, faucet, turn on/turn off, drain, fill, hot/cold, tub, dry, etc. Not only can you build their vocabulary of nouns and verbs, but you can also practice describing the objects and actions by using adjectives and adverbs. You are expanding their semantic skills by not only labeling the objects in the tub but also talking about what you do with them and what they look like.

Learning Body Parts- Bathtime provides the perfect learning opportunity to practice labeling body parts. You can point to ears, head, nose, etc. on your child and yourself while naming them, or label them while you’re washing each body part (e.g., “Washing my arm, washing my foot, washing my face). By naming their arm as you are washing their arm, they are getting multi-sensory input (i.e., hearing the word and feeling the touch on their arm) helping to make the connection. After your child has an understanding of basic body parts (e.g., head, eyes, ears, mouth, nose, feet, arms, legs, hands, belly, etc.) you can talk about the function of these body parts, or what we use them for. You can talk about what we do with each body part (e.g., "I smell the soap with my nose.") or ask your child “What do we see with? What do we eat with? What do we hear with?”

Use Bath Toys to Engage in Pretend Play- My daughter loves playing with her bath toys because they are reserved only for bath time and she doesn't have access to them all day. She especially loves her wind-up fish that swim in the water. We have fun making the fish swim and the people jump and splash in the water. She also loves scooping and pouring water with bath cups. These pretend-play activities create a great opportunity for language modeling.

Sequence Tasks- You can easily introduce sequence terms by talking about the order of what you’re doing while modeling language.

First, we fill up the tub.
Second, we add soap for bubbles.
Then, we get in the tub.
After, we wash our body with soap.
Next, we get out and dry off.
Last, we put on our diaper and pajamas.

Overemphasize Speech Sounds- Being at your child’s eye level and having your child within a contained space, you have their attention. You can use this opportunity to overemphasize words you are using to promote speech sound acquisition. By holding the toys near your mouth while you talk, you can encourage them to shift their gaze to your mouth to watch your production of a word or sound.

Bathtime is a perfect daily routine to promote language development with your toddler. It provides an easy opportunity to model language and build their skills through your everyday interactions.

Below are some of our favorite bathtime toys that you can use to promote language development!

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Wind Up Fish Toys