Monday May 6 2013 (cleaning tub toys)

Cleaning Tub Toys

My munchkins are typical kids, they love playing in the bathtub. We as a general rule squeeze all of the water out of any of the squirting toys before we put them in their hanging toy basket. Despite all of this sometimes I still notice discoloration on them after a while. That means it's time to sterilize them, there are lots of chemicals that you can use to do this like bleach, but I prefer to try to use things that I don't have to worry about irritating the boys' skin like vinegar and baking soda.

The first thing I do is I put the toys in a plugged sink.

Then I boil about 12-16cups of water with a cup of baking soda in it.

Pour the water and baking soda over the toys, then boil 8-12cups of white vinegar. While the vinegar is coming to a boil squeeze each toy to get some of the water/baking soda inside them. Now for the fun part, pour the vinegar over the toys and it will get all foamy, make sure that you have some space left in your sink for the foam so it doesn't go all over the place.

The vinegar is also VERY hot so there will be steam as well as foam.

Use a plate/baking tray or whatever will fit in your sink to press the toys down into the liquid as the majority of tub toys are meant to float. Now let them sit and soak for a while, at least an hour if at all possible. Once the hour is up scrub the outside of the toys and then squeeze the toys to get some liquid on their insides and shake thoroughly. Squeeze as much of the liquid out of the toys as possible, rinse the outsides and then allow to dry.

Look at all the gross stuff that comes out of the inside of the toys (GAG) The sad part is this is only a couple months worth of build up. I really should try to clean them every couple of weeks so that nothing like this happens.

YAY clean toys, the boys may never notice that I cleaned them, but I will.

It's also a good idea to to do this with rubber dog toys as well because most rubber dog toys have an air intake for the squeaker and the dog's drool gets in there and can get gross like the inside of tub toys.