Kitchen Craft: Soap Clouds! {And homemade kiddie tub soaps} - Our Best Bites

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.

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.

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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!