December time generally means sun, sand and swimming for most people in South Africa. We have been having a lot of the sun part at the moment and although that is one of the advantages of living in the Southern Hemisphere, it can make for some hot and grumpy children.

This morning they were particularly cranky and I wanted a fun way of cooling them off. We are currently under water restrictions so I couldn’t leave the sprinkler on for them to run through so I decided to make up a toy washing station for them.

As you know, I have two little girls and so the obvious choice of toys were dolls however if you only have boys or a mix, feel free to add in some more boy orientated toys. You could even use cars and make a toy car wash.

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What you need:
• A plastic bath, tub or water table
• Some washing up soap or bubble bath
• Wash cloths
• Towels
• Various toys and dolls
• Some doll and/or baby clothes (if you are going the doll route)

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We filled up the tub with some cool, soapy water and set out the hairbrushes, towels, clothes and shoes to change the dolls into afterwards.

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My girls had the most wonderful time bathing, drying and changing their dolls. This is a great role play activity for your little ones and is also fantastic for sensory development, especially if you make the water really foamy and bubbly.

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I have watched my girls playing with dolls before however I have never seen them do anything like this. It was amazing to watch how many of my bath time habits they have picked up, I am glad to see that I am so thorough at keeping them clean!

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By the time the girls were done they were soaked through and after a quick change they continued to play with their dolls inside. What a fun way to spend the morning and, as an added bonus for mom, their moods had improved dramatically!