DIY Soap Making

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DIY Soap making is an activity on my daughter’s shelter-in-place list of things to do.  This is a fun activity that multiple ages can enjoy.   This activity was my 19-year-old’s idea, but my 8-year-old was excited to join in the fun.  To be clear, we didn’t actually make the soap.  We bought a block of soap, melted it, and poured it into molds.

What You Need for this DIY Soap Making Project

• block soap-this is similar to the one I got from Michaels.
• soap colors
• molds- I used inexpensive plastic ones, but I’m loving the idea of these silicone ones
• microwave-safe bowl
• microwave
• or double boiler and stovetop

Easy Steps

I bought a soap block at Michaels. They come in two-pound blocks.

I love the shea butter.  They also have regular glycerine blocks.  A knife is all you need to cut the soap into blocks.

Just cut apart the blocks.  We used half the block and made 8 bars of soap.  I put bout four little blocks into a Pyrex measuring cut and microwaved for 30 seconds.  Stir, then microwave at 10-second intervals until fully melted.  Pour the soap into the molds, then add a drop of the desired color.  If you want all soap to be the same color, you can add the color before you pour it into the molds.

Stirring the color into each individual block gives it a nice tie-dye effect.

Almost Done

Put the mold in the refrigerator for an hour.  Turn mold over and push on the back of the soap until it pops out.  The mold I used was pretty flimsy and I worried it would break during this process, but it was ok.  Those silicone molds from Amazon would make the release process easier.

This is a super easy craft, and both kids enjoyed it.  These would make great Mother’s Day gifts as well.