Glow stick bath

I can’t remember where I got this idea from (probably a group on FB) but for a while I have been trying to think of ways to incorporate Evie’s love of all things bright to bathtime. Sadly I missed the boat on the light up bath animals that were on offer in Lidl so glow sticks were a brilliant idea.

I bought these ones from ebay – 100 for £5.48 with free postage – and they arrived quickly.

My only worry was whether they would be safe in the bath so did a little research coming up with several people who mentioned the “cracking” inside the glowstick being caused by breaking glass. I wasn’t sure whether this was true but just in case decided to place each glowstick inside a ziplock bag before placing it in the bath. This isn’t such an issue with a baby (who was sat on me in the bath) but I imagine would be awful for an older child if this did happen.

The result was stunning – I think I might like to do it for my own baths in future!

Plasma Ball

My partner Ben was browsing in Maplin when he came across something I remember being amazed by in my own childhood; a plasma ball – a glass globe which contains what looks like electric currents shooting out from the centre, which change when the globe is touched. How they work is explained here (Wikipedia to the rescue!).

For £12.49 he thought it was a bargain for something that might be able to used in sensory play with Evie – to stimulate vision and touch. You can buy them online here if you are interested.

We waited until it was dark and then had a play – here are the results. She was absolutely transfixed by it!

Warning: If you are going to do this with a toddler, be aware that the globe is made of glass.

Disposable Tablecloths

So today we used another idea shamelessly stolen from our baby sensory class. When I went to Asda I bought 3 disposable tablecloths, a bargain at £1 each. There are lots of different colours available but I chose to stick to pink, purple and turquoise/blue:

Next, I cut them all into strips, and then unravelled them like so:

Another really simple idea, with brilliant results! Evie loved the effect, the colours and the noise, particularly when she was lying on her back at the strips were thrown into the air!