Silicone Toys for Kids: What to Look For in the Bath

Bath time ends the same way in most houses. The kid is out, the towel is on the floor, and a pile of wet toys is left in the tub. What happens to those toys next is the part nobody plans for.

We make Bath Buddy, so we think about that pile a lot. This post is about silicone toys for kids: what the word means, what to look for, and how to get them dry between baths.

What makes a toy a silicone toy, and why solid matters in the bath

A silicone toy is made from silicone instead of hard plastic or vinyl. It is soft, it squishes, and it bounces back. But the material is only half of the story. The shape matters just as much.

Many bath toys are hollow. They have a small hole, and water gets in through it. Then the water stays inside the toy, out of sight. You can wring the toy out and set it on the edge of the tub, and it still holds that water.

That is the real problem with a lot of bath toys. It is not the surface. It is the water sitting inside where you can't reach it.

A solid silicone toy has no inside. The Tiipi Cuties listing describes toys that are solid all the way through, with no holes and no cavities. Because there is nowhere for water to get trapped, the listing says they dry in minutes. That is the whole idea behind choosing a solid toy for the bath.

Here is our honest limit, and it is published on the Bath Buddy page too: a toy that holds water inside itself will hold it anywhere. We don't claim to fix that one. So the best fix starts before the toy ever gets wet. Pick toys with no hollow space in them.

What to look for in silicone toys for kids

You can check a lot from the listing alone. Here is what we would look at, using only what the listing says about our set.

• Solid all the way through. No holes, no cavities. If you can't see an opening, water can't get in.
• A set, not a single toy. Our set has four pieces. The listing calls the shapes colorful and tactile, and sized for small hands.
• Toys that do something in the tub. The listing says they float, they stack, and they squish.
• An age you can read. The listing states ages 6 months and up.
• Simple care. The listing says the set is dishwasher safe. It also says the toys are built to outlast the bath toy phase.

That is a short list on purpose. A good toy should be easy to judge. If a listing needs a long explanation, look at the toy again.

If you want to see the set we make, it is the Silicone Bath Toys page. The Tiipi Cuties set is four pieces, and it is $19.99.

Using silicone bath toys at bath time

There is not much to it, and that is the point. Silicone bath toys go in the tub with the kid. They float. They stack into towers that get knocked over. They squish in a small hand.

A few things we have noticed as the people who make the organizer that goes with them:

• Four pieces is enough for a bath. It gives a kid something to pick from, and it doesn't take over the tub.
• Soft, solid shapes are easy to grab with wet hands.
• Because there is no hole to fill, you don't need to squeeze out each toy at the end of the bath.

That last one saves a step. With a hollow toy, the bath ends and the squeezing starts. With a solid one, you lift it out and it is done.

When bath time is over, the toys are still wet on the outside. Solid silicone dries fast, but it still needs somewhere to go. Tossing it in a bucket or a sack puts it right back in its own water. That is the next problem.

Drying silicone toys between baths with Bath Buddy

We built Bath Buddy for this moment. Wet toys go in. Water drains out. Bath's over.

Here is how it works, in the words we use on the product page:

The two parts connect precisely — you'll hear the click. Water runs off the toys and is looped down by gravity to a second level underneath. That level catches it. You dump it, wipe it with a cloth, done. Nothing pooling under the toys, nothing to scrub the next morning.

Two pieces click together. Gravity does the rest. You can hear whether it is seated or not, so you know it is set up right.

A few more things you would notice in your hand:

• It sits on four rubber pads, so it stays put. There is nothing to mount and nothing to drill.
• The base has rubber bottoms and solid walls. It doesn't have the thin-plastic rattle.
• A silicone rinse cup comes with it.

Bath Buddy is $39.88, and shipping in the US is free with no minimum. Toys are not included with Bath Buddy. You get the organizer and the rinse cup. If you want the four-piece toy set too, it is $10 off when they ship together. The discount is automatic in the cart, with no code.

The routine is short. Dump the bottom level. Wipe it with a cloth. That is all.

And here is the other honest limit, which we publish and don't bury: it only fails one way. If the water never gets dumped, it can't do its job. So we made dumping a two-second thing you will actually do.

The short version

Pick silicone toys that are solid all the way through, because a toy that holds water inside is the problem. Look for a set you can read at a glance: four pieces, an age stated, simple care. Then give the wet toys somewhere to drain when the bath is done.

Solid toys, and a second level that catches the water. That is the whole fix.