Making Craft FoamToys for Your Toddler's Bath

Looking for something fun to add to bath time, without spending a lot of money on special bath toys? Why not make your own fun toys out of craft foam? It's quick and easy, and you can make as many as you like. When the toys get torn or look like they might be starting to grow mold, you just toss them and whip up some new ones. It's really that simple!

All you need to get started is a few sheets of colorful craft foam, plastic lacing and some scissors. With these few materials, you can turn out some toys that your toddler will love to play with.

Basic Shapes

These are nice and easy. Sea creatures are the most obvious, but really, you can cut out any shape you like. They should be between 3-5" long and wide to make sure they aren't going to be choking hazards, but are still easy to hold onto.

There are a couple of different ways you can get the shapes to cut out if you aren't good at freehand. One is to use a cookie cutter, just press it hard into the foam and then cut out along the indent left. You can also find a shape that you like online and print it, then lay the paper over the foam on a hard surface and trace the outline, pressing hard. If that doesn't work well enough, try rubbing pencil across the back of the paper and doing it again, this will leave the tracing marked on the foam and it will easily wash off.

3-Dimensional Shapes

If you're looking for more than a simple dolphin cutout, you can use plastic lacing to tie pieces together. A hot glue gun is more effective for more complicated items such as boats.

Make your own bath book by lacing several pages together. Write and draw on each page with an indelible marker. You can also create puzzle books by cutting out the center of the page in a special shape, like a heart or a tree. Replace it with an identical cutout of another color. Kids love being able to pop puzzle pieces in and out.

Glue or lace five squares together to form a soft cube with an open top. This is fun for kids to drop their other foam shapes into. Use your imagination to create other fun toys like bath triangles, tubes, etc.