You know what question Kate and I get a lot? “How do you girls do it it all??” Our schedules are full, just as many of yours are, and it comes with the constant struggle of balancing Mom-life with work-life. And like most other Mothers out there, when it comes down to it and one has to take priority, the Mom gig wins- no contest. If something has to fall through the cracks it’s not Mom thing; it’s usually the doing-laundry, cleaning-bathrooms, or showering-before-noon thing. So to answer the question, how do we do it all? Ha! We don’t! Those of you joining us at TOFW get to hear all about how we don’t do it all. In fact, most times sometimes we barely keep it together! The past few weeks have felt like that for me. I’ve been traveling a lot, and working on some huge projects (we finished our book!), so when I got home the other day after spending the weekend in PA (SO much fun- thank you East Coasters for a great time!) the last thing I wanted to do was pull out my big camera and cook. And then edit photos. And then write a big recipe post for today. What I did want to do? Play with my kids. Be goofy, be silly, be loud and crazy and do whatever they wanted to do. I asked them what they wanted to do, and lucky for me (and you) they picked something that I thought would actually be fun to share with you! So ironically, my intentions of turning off my blog brain back-fired, but it worked out in the end. I got to play with my kids, and you get a fun kitchen craft. Or something to entertain friends at the office when you’re tired of working. Since I had no intentions of making a big ol’ photography project out of this fun little activity, I just snapped some quick photos on my Phone and edited them right on my phone too, with the Thumba app. Come next Monday I’ll have my brain fully functioning again and I’ll bust out my big camera have an amazing recipe for you! Until then, let’s just play 🙂 This is sort of awesome.
We call these “Soap Clouds.” Where are all of our chemical engineers? I need to know why every awesome science project involving soap, hinges on the use of Ivory soap. Thoughts? Are there magical ingredients in there? I’ve always wondered that. I bet whoever came up with the original recipe never expected that so many science experiments would ensue with its use! I think the same thing about Elmer’s glue. Anyway, grab a bar of Ivory soap-yes, only Ivory! It’s cheap, but don’t worry, you can even use it as soap when we’re done here so we’re not being wasteful. So you don’t need to write us lengthy emails about being earth-hating-soap-haters.
Place a piece of waxed paper, parchment, plastic wrap, or paper towel in your microwave. Just don’t use foil, or we’ll have issues on our hands that are much bigger than your next burrito tasting slightly like a fresh mountain spring. This really doesn’t make a mess, so don’t be scared.
Start your microwave for a couple of minutes on high power. You don’t need to let it run that whole length of time, but you can just stop it when you need to. Want to see what happens?? It’s a little hard to see through my microwave door, but check it out (and ignore me when I say you need to turn your microwave turntable off, that’s for if you’re trying to video this experience:))
Ten bonus points for anyone who can reference my children’s ramblings about “the great devourer.”
I don’t know how it does it- but it starts growing! Sometimes the “clouds” are seriously HUGE, and other times they are sort of wimpy. I’ve noticed generally, the fresher the soap (as in the more recent I have purchased it) the bigger the result. We’ve done this a million times and my kids still get a kick out of it.
It looks like it should be foamy and wet, but it’s not. You can actually pick up the whole big chunk.
If you smash it, it will break into pieces and you’ll end up with soap dust everywhere, so be careful with little hands who like to smash things 🙂
It’s the weirdest looking thing. I love how it’s different every time.
Now. You have a giant blob of dried soap fluff and your kids were entertained for a total of 3.5 minutes. That’s a start! Sometimes I let my kids just take the whole darn thing in the bath tub and have at it. It’s one way to make sure they actually get cleaned in there. Or sometimes I hold it up over them in the tub and let it “snow” by smashing it and letting it sprinkle down like little snow flakes. Or, you can let them make their own little soaps. First, put the fluff in a bowl and let them do what they’ve probably been trying to do already- smash it to smithereens. It just kind of falls apart, so it’s actually kind of fun. And if it gets all over your counter, take my advice and sweep or vacuum it up first, then wipe it down. Otherwise you’ll end up with a big soapy mess.
Then, either in a bowl with a spoon, or with an electric beater, or in a food processor, like I’m using, add warm water, just until it comes together. Just like pie crust, folks! This is why I love kitchen crafts. To test it, grab some with your hands and hold it in your fist. If it holds together in a ball, it’s ready.
Take the mold-able mixture and let kids press it into cookie cutters. Make sure kids are old enough to know it’s not food, or they are likely to attempt to eat it!
These photos below are from a batch I made a while back, (and photographed with my regular camera) and I let my kids add just a couple of drops of food coloring to make colored soaps. After the soaps are molded, but still wet, you can gently push them out of the molds. Let them sit in a cool, dry place for a few days and soon you will have little soaps to wash (or play!) with. I would only use a small amount of food coloring as to not stain anything!
Funny how my kids are always very interested in getting extra clean when it’s with soap they’ve made themselves.
Now go have some fun with your own kiddos today! Or, just grab some soap and have fun in your office break room at lunch. C’mon- you know you want to.
Reminder: Once again, only use IVORY soap. Lots of people asking this in the comments, or commenting they have a burned mess in their microwave because they didn’t read it earlier in the post! Ivory!
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Questions & Reviews
We have a lot of kiddos who will enjoy watching this grow. And, they can then molds and make awesome colored soaps. Thanks
Sounds like a barrel of fun –wish i would have had i5 for my 5 kids and the neighborhood kids at 97, I am still ging to try it on Great grandkids
Wow, these soap clouds and homemade kiddie tub soaps are such a creative and fun idea! I love how easy it seems to make them, and the fact that they are safe for little ones is a huge bonus. This tutorial has inspired me to try making them with my own children, and I can’t wait to see their faces light up with joy. Thank you for sharing this fantastic DIY project!
Can’t wait to try this with my daughter!!! And I loved the video with your son “The Great Devour !!!! ” that was perfect 🤣🤣
I’m a soap maker, an not heard of this project, awesome going to try it with my grandson tomorrow . Thanks for sharing this with us. ????
I’m going to try Dove soap today!!
isn’t the “great devourer” from like, Lego Ninjago or something?
I love this idea, will be doing it with the grandkids!
Had a great time with this today, thank you! All 4 kiddos, ages 10-6, had a blast. Great “Science Experiment Wednesday” option for us – easy, quick, and a pretty easy clean-up. Also, our kids love Ninjago too ;).
Hi
You may have answered this already but there were so many posts I stopped reading……
Would this snow work on flocking evergreens?
I know that my Mammaw made homemade snow in the 1950s and I think she used Ivory snow flakes mixed with something but I’m not sure.
Would this work?
Ya know, it is kind of that consistency though I’ve never used it for that!
the great devourer comes from the green lantern movie. and he is right it does look like the devourer alot.
The Great Devourer was a monstrous snake worshipped by the Serpentine as a god, believed to consume all of creation if left unchecked. There are many YouTube video with him in it. I have 5 grandson’s, I know all about those kind of things. LOL!
Do you kids read Rick Riordan? Ammut (Ammit, Ahemait, Ammemet) was an Egyptian demoness. She was known as the ‘Eater of Hearts’, ‘The Devourer’ and ‘Great of Death’ because she was a demoness of punishment. She was a netherworld dweller who waited by the scales of judgement to consume the hearts of those who did evil during their lives. (thekeep.org). She was the monster under the scale at the weighing of the heart ceremony after an Ancient Egyptian passed into the underworld. Osiris was god of the underworld and when you died, he placed your heart on the scale of judgement. If your heart was lighter than a feather you passed into the afterlife. But if your heart was heavier, Ammut would devour it and you would not have eternal life.
I love this, even for my older kids this summer, they will be amazed by it. Thank you for sharing.
Hi, I’m in Australia and have never seen or heard of this soap where would I find it? What country are you in?
it’s a very common soap here in the USA.
Great idea for kid-entertaining, also thanks for the way to turn the puff into bath soaps. Ivory is the best for microwaving, but some other soaps actually can be “nuked” for other uses.
I mix my own laundry powder, using Fels Naptha laundry bars. Zote laundry soap, and Kirk’s Castile soap will also work.
I have learned I can use the microwave oven technique to “flake” the soap, in place time-consuming, labor-intensive grating, or the not-entirely-satisfactory buzzing of chunks in a (dedicated) blender. (Dedicated, because the scent of the soap seems to become a permanent part of the blender, making it totally unusable for food.)
The trick, at least with the Fels Naptha, is to set the microwave on 50% power, start with 1 minute, then zap it for 30-second-intervals until puffed. At full-power, the soap begins to burn. Also, don’t put the bar on anything plastic – it will melt. I use a microwave-safe ironstone dinner plate.
When puffed (it won’t be any where near as puffy as Ivory, btw, but will be crumbly when crushed with your fingers), take it out, let it cool, then put the puff into a zip-top freezer bag, zip closed, and beat it into flakes with a meat tenderizer mallet, a pot, or whatever you have handy. Even your hands can crush it into flakes. Great stress-reliever. My smaller grandchildren absolutely LOVE the beating part, as well, and I love the resulting soap flakes.
so cool !!!! I added glow in the dark paint to it ad it looked so cool
This looks like fun. I wish I had known about this when my children were kids and also when I was doing daycare in my home, thanks for this I will pass it on.
Years ago Pier One used to sell soap balls. They looked like the balls they sell now for adding to the bathwater. I think I may try making my own soap balls with this process. Love this idea for kids. My grandkids aren’t quite old enough — but soon! Thanks for a fun post!
This was sooo fun! I did it with 5-6 year olds as a play centre sensory/science program. They loved their own little soaps to take home too.
Where can you get ivory soap…. Please help….
At pretty much any store 🙂
Does the food coloring stain or make a mess when you use your “homemade” soap shapes? I was thinking of Christmas gift for the little people in our family.
No, just don’t go crazy. I just put a little drop in and the soup counteracts it to wash it off:)
Amazing . My 7 years old daughter like it. Thanks a lot ❤
The great devourer is from Ninjago. I have 3 boys that watch that and would love this. Thanks for sharing!!
Your video doesn’t work (anymore?) But the reason the soap expands is the amount of air bubbles in Ivory soap. I wonder if it works (as well) with other brands.
We have done this a couple of times before and it is SO FUN! The soap looks quite beautiful when it’s finished.
it’s on!!!! weekend activity, here we come! I bet you could make “lava soap” by adding fine sand, or “fairy soap” by adding fine glitter…. they’d have to be hand-soaps rather than bath soaps, but making them would be the best part, even if they don’t turn out… after all, failure is always an option!
This did not work with Dial soap. Burnt through the plastic plate and left the house with an unnamable odor. Highly do not recommend this idea when trying to find entertainment. Currently have a fan in our kitchen and the back door open to rid the smell. Gross.
This definitely does not work with Dial soap. The directions are very clear that this process ONLY works with Ivory.
I used to be a preschool teacher. We used different kinds of soap to make sculptures. The kids and I grated a variety of soaps and added water to make our sculptures. The varying soaps and colors were fun to experiment with. You may like to try that technique. Enjoy.
So cool. We just did it. How long do you usually microwave it? And do you pull it out once it’s cool? I’m afraid to touch it lol 🙂 I don’t want to squish it.
We pretty much just eyeball everything. And just handle it lightly, you can pick it up!
that is the coolest thing ever!!