Magical, mystery bathtime: Surprise them with an Underwater Light Show

Tomorrow we are off on a Very Big Trip. We are taking our daughter back to China, her country of origin, for the first time. It is an important and emotionally-charged journey with a visit to her “hometown” and the institute where she spent the first 10 ½ months of her life.

At the same time, we plan to have a big, fat, water-buffalo load of fun. We will visit Shanghai, and Yangshuo in the mountains, where one evening we hope to see the Liu Sanjie light Show on the waters of the Li River.

by mR.Son.Photo/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 (adapted)

So before we go, I thought I’d share with you a nifty little gadget that creates a light show on the waters of Your Own Bath Tub. 

Doesn’t look like much, does it? But this 8cm chunk of plastic transforms the ordinary, everydayness of children's bathtime into something magical. It’s been lying dormant here on the side of the bath here for many months. But now that Autumn is here and it’s dark by 6.30 pm, we've got it doing its funky thing again.

It floats on the water, creating a myriad of multi-coloured, mesmerising effects under, on and over the bathwater – and any body in it! It’s a bit like Northern Lights for the indoors. Dancing rainbows in the dark. The kid’s version of a grown-up’s candle-lit bath – but funner.

We got ours about three years ago. I used it to surprise my son and daughter, separately (unsurprisingly, the Big One wasn’t so keen on shared baths past 11 years old!). I ran the bath, turned it on, popped it in, turned the light off, left the bathroom, pulled the door to, and shouted, “Bath’s ready!” in the most ordinary, everyday voice I could muster.

“Wow!” said my daughter, walking into the psychedelic world that was now our bathroom.

“What is that?” said my son, cool but curious, disappearing into the bathroom for a lot longer than is normal.

There are five different settings from Quick flashing (frankly, this one gives me a headache but the kids don’t seem to mind) to Morphing (one soothing colour at a time. I like this one best).

Yes, okay, I've used it in my own bath a couple of times. 

Of course, the kids naturally experiment with all the settings frantically at first, as well as turning it, spinning it and submerging it to explore all the different ways the water distorts and magnifies the light.

“If I do this, it looks like the pattern on peacock feathers,” said my daughter just the other night. “Look, now my arm's gone like that lady we saw at Giffords Circus, the one with fake tattoos all over her body.”

I have given these Underwater Light Shows (£7.99) as birthday presents for my daughter's school chums (By the way, I have nothing whatsoever to do with the company that sells them – just in case you were wondering!). Ours has also doubled as a disco light in my daughter's bedroom, lodged inside the bottom of her lampshade.

Yep, this little thing is definitely more than the sum of its parts.

Back in a couple of weeks!