Works For Me Wednesday – Getting Water Out Of Bath Toys (rubber ducks)

We love rubber ducks. But, what do you do when you just can’t get that extra water out? If you let it sit, it will mold, creating a nasty little problem.
I looked it up and all I could find for suggestions was bleach. Lots of bleach. That – and boiling or using the dishwasher.
Right. But really, how does adding MORE water (hot water) get rid of the water that is already a problem? It doesn’t. So, I made it my task to figure out a way to get the water out so L can continue playing with her beloved duckies.
Option 1: Poke an extra hole in it. I recommend using an ice pick or nail (or the corn cob holders) to poke a hole in its beak. It’ll give an extra hole to squeeze water out AND provide a squirter!
Option 2: Squeeze it out. If the hole is in the middle on the bottom, as it is with ours, fold up the body so the hole is the lowest point. Now press the little bugger down until it can’t be pressed anymore. Don’t worry, ducky will get over it and will puff back out after a while.
Option 3: Try getting out most of the water and then either set it into a little puddle of rubbing alcohol OR use something to squeeze it into the ducky (like the medicine syringe for animals OR something similar).
Option 4: Try all of the above…together!
But, whatever you do…don’t use bleach. Soapy warm water is plenty to get all the nasties off of the inside. They rubbing alcohol will take care of the germs on the inside and help dry it out (you can also use tea tree oil if it starts getting moldy). But bleach and other cleaners are a BAD idea. Because it will come out in your child’s bathtime water and they will be taking a bath in tilex, bleach, or oxy water. Yuck. And, they may even try drinking that water (from the duck)…or get the water in their eyes.
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Comments
Hockeyman
Haha, funny you wrote about this today since I was doing just that last night, trying to get the water out of a bath toy.
Amy
I’ve been wondering about a solution for this problem! Some of my stepdaughter’s bathtoys have turned green inside, and I’m about ready to just toss them!
Maren
We have a couple nasty but beloved frogs that I am going to try this with. Thanks for the suggestions
Au
THANK YOU! Love these ideas!
Make sure you sign up for the giveaway on my UBP post!
Anne
First of all, your daughter is adorable!!! I have had to throw so many of those little ducks away. Thanks for the tips!
Jill
My husband is anal retentive about squeezing the water out of the girls bath toys every-single-night. He then lines them up on the side of the tub so they dry out…
In all honesty, we do the best we can to keep the toys dry after bath time – but after about 6 months (assuming there’s no mold before that) they’ve hit their shelf life and we dump them… and start over.
courtney
that is some adorable pics!! we always are fighting to get the water out of toys, thanks for the tip, love the corn on the cob idea.
Karen MEG
Great tips, I always try to squeeze every little bit out; rinsing with bleach seems like such a crazy idea!!!
Paige
I wish I had read this before we threw away a bunch of bath toys a few months ago! We tried so many different things to clean out that nasty mildew/mold, but to no avail.
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