Bath Toys
Bathrooms are generally warm and moist environments which offer the perfect conditions for mould and mildew.
Toys for the bath are designed to get wet but if they stay wet that’s when mould can start to form and most people are less than keen on the idea of mouldy tub toys. While it’s probably not dangerous for your child to share a bath with a mouldy bath toy and even get a bit of mouldy water in their mouths it’s not something you are going to be encouraging.
Choosing your toys
There’s no denying that some toys are more likely to get mouldy than others. Squirty toys being the hardest to keep mould free. They have a tiny hole so even with the best will in the world it’s hard to get all the moisture out, and they are generally opaque meaning it stays nice and dark inside, perfect for mould.
The easiest option is to seal them up with a hot glue gun when you first get them. But of course, that means they don’t squirt anymore. And you don’t want to seal up toys that are already mouldy. You can also cut a larger hole to make it possible to scrub inside.
But getting rid of squirty toys doesn’t mean your bath time has to be either rubber duck free or squirt free. You can get some amazing rubber toys that don’t have holes in them including ducks and other things. And an old Calpol syringe or a bottle with a hole in the lid offers plenty of opportunities for squirting each other.
Foam bath toys also tend to be prime culprits for mould for the fact that foam is very porous and they take much longer to dry than hard plastic toys. Again you can simply avoid these toys or make sure you clean them regularly.
Hard plastic toys on the other hand like the Green Toys range made from recycled milk bottles and natural rubber toys that don’t have holes are the easiest to keep mould free as they are easy to rinse and dry after a bath.
Keeping toys clean and dry
The next thing to focus on is keeping toys as clean and dry as you can between bath times. Having good storage for bath toys really helps with this as they need to have good air circulation and be able to drain well after bath time.
It’s also important to clean bath toys regularly. You might think they are being cleaned on every time they are played with in the bath but the reality is toddler bathwater can be pretty grimy and full of soap scum.
Bath toys can be cleaned naturally using vinegar, they can be cleaned using bleach, or for many, you can put them in the dishwasher.
Do this regularly and you should never have a problem with mouldy bath toys again.
