DIY Bath Crayons from Bar Soap

My kids LOVE bath time.  I mean to the point that some days they end up with two baths!  This, of course, is fine with me.  I want to keep them as interested in bath time as possible.

I was poking around the internet a while back and saw where a mom had put a bar of Ivory soap in the microwave and made it puff up!  How cool is that?  She had done several different things with it, including forming it back into cookie cutters to make soaps.  Pretty cool.  I moved on and didn't give the site another thought really.  Can't even remember where it was.

So last time we were in wally world, we were perusing the aisles and came across bath crayons.  Those suckers are like $10!!  I wasn't willing to spend that much on something that would most likely wind up in the drain or used up after one bath time.  My oldest metioned a few days later that she really would like bath crayons.  Sigh.  Can't I make the kids happy and still not break the bank?

It got my wheels cranking and my mind went back to the post I had read weeks earlier.  Two problems....I didn't have any Ivory soap....and I wanted/needed crayons instead of cut out shapes.  Gonna try it anyway? You know it.

Here is what you need:

One bar of Dove soap (the person who inspired this used Ivory)

a microwave

4 Neon gel food colors (yes, this temporarily dies your child...it washed off when we got to the scrubbing part)
small bowls

Here is what ya do:

Pop the soap into the microwave on a paper towel for between 30 seconds and one minute. Until it EXPLODES....ok, so it doesn't really explode....but it puffs up like a giant cloud....you'll see.  When I took mine out, it flattened out, like this.

On the site I was reading on a few weeks ago, hers stayed nice and fluffy.  I am assuming that is because I used Dove and she used Ivory.  For this project, it doesn't really matter about how fluffy it gets.

Separate the soap fluff into four (or as many as you want) different small bowls.  Add a nice squeeze of gel food coloring to each one.  Then mix thouroughly.  It is best to do this when the soap is still very warm.  If it cools to much, you end up with a crumbly mess.  I used my hands, which are now bright pink...surprisingly from the purple color, not the pink.  Then form the balls into your desired shape.  Don't get too caught up on these being perfect.  Perfectionism ruins a great project.  Besides, these are just for the kids to enjoy...let them be fun, not tedious.

Throw these in the tub with the kiddos, and let the fun begin!

About halfway through this part, I suddenly got concerned that I wouldn't be able to get the colors off the tub.  Bad time to think about that, huh?  It actually came right off with warm water.  Phew!

Did you try this at your house?  How did it go?  Do you have another idea?  Let me know in the comments.  I love to hear from you!