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Bath time is playtime, too! We rounded up mold-free bath toys for babies and toddlers that are fun and practical. Each bath toy is easy to clean, engaging, and has learning benefits, too.
Read more to see what we consider the best bath toys and why we love them.
Recommendations for Mold-Free Bath Toys
When searching for mold-free bath toys, keep these things in mind!
Choose solid, one-piece bath toys when possible.
Avoid any bath toy with seams, holes, or small crevices. You want to make sure your bath toys can dry completely between baths. Holes and crevices can harbor mold and bacteria.
Opt for silicone or BPA-free plastic. These toys are usually top rack dishwasher safe and dry more quickly.
Pay attention to the bath toy’s construction. Can the bath toy come apart for easier drying?
Use bath toy storage that allows for good air circulation as mold thrives in dark places where air is stagnant.
Baby Bath Toys
Our top-recommended baby bath toys are developmentally appropriate and designed to grow with your child. Even if your little one is still using a baby bathtub, these toys are a perfect fit for bath time fun.
These are fun floating toys for the bath. They’re perfect for encouraging your baby to reach out and grab while keeping their balance.
Your baby can engage in sensory play with their textured surfaces and the rattling sound they make. The best part is they have no holes making them mold-free bath toys!
Try this! Model functional language like “shake, up, down” and shake them together to make music in the tub!
Lalo’s stacking cups make great baby bath toys. The bath is a great place to work on scooping and pouring! This bath toy is versatile in and out of the tub.
As your baby grows into toddlerhood, work on things like stacking and nesting them. They’re also great open-ended toys for imaginative play.
Try this! After your child is scooping and pouring with one cup, use two cups and work on transferring water back and forth.
Price: $24.99 Material: silicone Developmental benefits: grasping, hand and grip strength, pretend play
Parents love these mold-free bath toys from Mushie. They’re soft, squeezable, and break into two pieces for easy cleaning and drying.
You can let your baby teethe on the soft silicone and let them reach out to grab them while in a seated position. This actually works gross motor skills!
Try this! As they grow, ask your baby to find the different pieces of the set. Or, play hide and seek with the pieces in the tub.
Price: $23.99 Material: silicone Developmental benefits: scooping, pouring, grasping, learning cause & effect, stacking, imaginative play
The beauty of this nautical bath toy set is its ability to grow with your child. The soft, silicone boats make simple infant bath toys. Your baby can even teethe on them while bathing! But the suction spinning toy and stacking boats can be played with through toddlerhood.
Grasp, scoop, pour, spin, stack, and play pretend with this set. I love the silicone pieces because they’re easy to clean and dry quickly.
Try this! Take turns spinning. Model functional language like, “Ready, set, go!” and spin the anchor when you say “go!” Other functional language to use: scoop/in, pour/out.
Toddler Bath Toys
Our top picks for mold-free toddler bath toys are all easy to clean and dry out. Even better, they’re versatile. Consider using them for outdoor water play and more.
Price: $11.99 Material: silicone Developmental benefits: hand strength and grip
We think these are some of the best bath toys for 1 year olds and up! Have fun squeezing and squirting water together while increasing hand and grip strength.
Each animal comes apart for easy cleaning and drying. And, they’re dishwasher safe!
Try this! Play pretend with the animals! See if they can help clean the tub! Squirt a bit of soap on the wall, rub and scrub, then use the animals to rinse the suds off.
Price: $12.99 Material: foam Developmental benefits: fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, problem-solving
Now these are some fun bath toys for toddlers. The 2- and 3-piece sets are the perfect introduction to puzzles. They float in the water or stick on the tub and shower surface!
Lalo also makes other themed puzzle and foam play sets including a tropical island set and vehicles set. Made with mold and mildew-resistant foam, separate and dry them completely before storing.
Try this! Make the bath tub your ice cream shop! Ask your toddler to make you an ice cream cone.
This has got to be one of the coolest toddler bath toys we’ve seen in awhile. Make “tub soup” with the plastic pot, ladle, and foam vegetables!
There’s so much imagination, gross and fine motor work, and concentration involved with this bath toy. Concentrating on the floating veggies, scooping them up, pouring, stirring, and pretend play are all involved.
Try this! Have your toddler take your soup order, then let them scoop the specific ingredients you want. Ask them to stir it together while singing a fun song!
This toy fishing set is one of the best mold-free bath toys. So many similar toys have holes in the fish which harbor bacteria – gross.
I love this bath toy because it encourages patience and concentration while working fine motor skills. The fish float in the water and your child needs to use the fishing pole hook to catch them one by one!
Try this! Ask your toddler to catch fish by naming their colors. For example, “Can you catch the purple fish first?” This works on color identification, too!
Bath Toys for Kindergarteners
The truth is, many bath toys don’t have a strict age limit and can be used creatively for years. Simple stacking cups, for example, can become part of countless play scenarios. We chose these bath toys for kindergarteners because they help build specific skills and double as learning opportunities during bath time.
Price: $16.65 Material: silicone Developmental benefits: fine motor skills, hand strength, creative thinking, building
While these bath toys can work for older toddlers, they’re great for kindergarteners. They work on hand strength, fine motor coordination, problem-solving, and creative thinking.
I love these for sensory and creative play. They build well on bath walls, but they can also be used on windows or other smooth surfaces, too.
Try this! Challenge your child to build something on the bath walls. Encourage them to build a 3D shape or connect the suction cups to create chains.
Bath crayons make great bath toys! For toddlers, you can use them to draw and scribble. But for preschool and kindergarten aged kids, they’re great for working on writing!
Whether drawing, writing, or coloring, your child is working on hand strength, grasping, and dexterity while having fun. They’re non-toxic and washable. It’s a win-win.
Try this! Have your kindergartener work on writing their full name on the tub walls, or practice writing their letters.
Price: $9.19 Material: foam Developmental benefits: letter and number identification, language learning and spelling, phonics
Foam bath letters and numbers are the perfect bath toys for kindergarteners. You can reinforce letter and number recognition, and start to go further with phonics and spelling.
They’re great bath toys to make learning more fun and engaging.
Try this! Work on spelling sight words, or ask your kindergartener to sound out simple 3 letter words. Examples include: cat, bat, mat, dog, mop, box, sun.
Price: $34.95 Material: plastic Developmental benefits: sensory development, cause & effect, color recognition
Make bathtime a sensory experience with these water-activated light up bath toys.
Watch as the Glo Pals light up as soon as they hit the water, teaching your little one about cause and effect. These bath toys are an easy way to bring more excitement to bathtime, especially if you have a hesitant toddler.
Try this! Is your little one having a rough day? Try a calming, warm bath and bring these light-up bath toys into the tub. Dim the bathroom lights and use these light up toys to create a calming sensory environment to reset your day.
How to Clean Bath Toys
Make sure your bath toys stay clean! Here are some of our tips on cleaning bath toys and avoiding mold growth.
Maintenance is key Clean bath toys regularly by soaking them in a solution made from 3 parts hot water and one part vinegar. Many bath toys are dishwasher safe on the top rack as well. Pop them in to clean!
Dry completely When taking toys out of the bath, always separate them and ensure they dry completely. This prevents mildew forming.
Storing bath toys Make sure to keep your bath toys in a place that gets air circulation. We like this bath toy organizer, and there are many similar ones out there!
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Most parenting resources come from a single expert's perspective, but development doesn't really work that way.
You can't fully understand feeding without input from both a dietitian and a feeding specialist. You can't properly address milestones without OT, PT, and SLP perspectives working together. That's why every Eat Play Say resource is created collaboratively by our entire team — giving you the most comprehensive guidance possible, all in one place.
MS, SLP
Founder of Eat Play Say, Speech-Language Pathologist, Feeding Specialist, Play Expert, Mom of 2
Jordyn Koveleski Gorman
SPECIALIZES IN: Infant and toddler speech-language, play, and feeding development, and curating a team that provides expert help that feels like a reassuring text from that one mom friend
EDUCATION: Jordyn received her BS in Speech-Language Pathology from Bloomsburg University and her MS in Speech-Language Pathology from Towson University
FAVE PARENTING FIRST: “The first true smile, it’s the sweetest!”
SPECIALIZES IN: Breast and bottle feeding, tongue ties, oral motor dysfunction, starting solids, infant and toddler speech, treating oral motor disorders
EDUCATION: Jessica received her BS in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Pennsylvania State University in 2015 and her MS in Speech-Language Pathology from Towson University in 2017
FAVE PARENTING FIRST: “Baby’s first wave! What a fun first communication gesture!”
SPECIALIZES IN: Breast and bottle feeding, tongue ties, starting solids, infant and toddler speech development
EDUCATION: She received her BS in Speech-Language Pathology from Ball State in 2014 and a MA in Speech-Language Pathology from Ball State in 2016.
FAVE PARENTING FIRST: “My favorite baby’s first is their first true smile that just warms your soul knowing they are smiling at you. My other favorite is their first word. I love watching their language explode!”
SPECIALIZES IN: Bilingual development (Spanish-English), supporting multilingual families, infant and toddler speech
EDUCATION: She received her BA in Communication Sciences and Disorders and in Spanish from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2014 and her MS in Speech-Language Pathology with an English-Spanish Specialization from Marquette University in 2016.
FAVE PARENTING FIRST: “It’s the first slobbery kisses for me!”
SPECIALIZES IN: Infant and pediatric nutrition including breastfeeding, formula feeding, and starting solids. She also specializes in prenatal and postpartum nutrition.
EDUCATION: She received her BSc in Biology in 2014 from Life University, and her BSc in Dietetics from Life University in 2019.
FAVE PARENTING FIRST: ”The first time they say ‘mama!’”
This checklist was created with input from a Speech-Language Pathologist, Occupational Therapist and Physical Therapist and has been downloaded over 20,000 times by parents worldwide. Learn the important milestones to pay attention to, and keep it in your digital back pocket during the baby + toddler years!
Comprehensive Milestone Checklist for gross motor, fine motor, and speech-language milestones for 0-36 months,