We made Ivory Soap Clouds for our Frugal Family Fun project. The kids were less than enthused when I first told them about it.
“Stick a bar of soap in the microwave? What’s the big deal about that?” They said nonchalantly.
Well, I had them all crowd around the microwave, despite their lackluster attitudes.
Within a minute, everyone had forgotten all about their lack of enthusiasm as their eyes were popping out with what the soap had turned into in the microwave.
They started begging me if they could please play with it — and they had so much fun breaking off pieces and being fascinated with the transformation of a simple bar of soap.
Did you do something fun and frugal as a family today? If you blogged about it, I’d love for you to leave a link to your blog post below. Or, you can just tell us what you did in the comments.
Note: Since the purpose of this series is to encourage you to be intentional about fun in your home this summer, please only link up posts showing pictures/sharing details of fun things you did as a family today (or within the last few days). Posts that do not adhere to these guidelines will be deleted in order to make it fair for those who are putting forth a lot of effort to participate in this challenge.
mary says
how long do you microwave it for? looks really cool, and my kids will love it.
Brandy @ Our Thrifty Home says
This seems like so much fun for everyone. A must try for sure.
I wonder though, who the originator/creator was and what they must have thought…. Gee, I wonder what happens if I put a bar of soap in the microwave? Brave soul they were. I would have been to scared of burning my kitchen down.
Love It!
Thanks for sharing.
Margaret says
Ok so I got the Ivory Soap since I was a partcipant in the Mom Vox Box, I knew it floated and I knew it was so good for your skin. I didn’t know you could put a bar in the microwave for 90 seconds and it would turn into a giant fluff ball. Well I did and it did. Now what can you do with a giant fluff ball of Ivory Soap. First you can fool someone thinking it’s whipped cream. Second you can put some in a small bell canning jar put a nice lable on it and give it as a gift. I found a great use for it, making it snow in the bathtub in July. You see the fluff ball crumbles very easily now and if you work it can flake like snow. So plop those dirty, sandy kids in the bath tub and let it snow on tob of them. They play, they lather, they get clean!!!!
April says
Wow, so much fun for my 3 year old. She loved it. She spent about 30 minutes afterwards playing with it in the sink while I cooked dinner. Plus I used my free soap from Walgreens so it worked out awesome. Thanks for the fun/cheap idea!
Theresa says
We took ours outside and had fun sprinkling all over, making it “snow”. We will definitely do this one again. Good thing ivory soap is easy to get free with coupons!
lisa s says
we’ve been doing science experiments each week this summer, so this was perfect. and i had 3 free bars on hand! whoo hoo! so we did it, and just like yours, i heard, “that’s it. we are going to microwave soap.” i’m so glad it was as dramatic as it looked online. they loved it. thank you so much. after we played with it, we mixed it with a little water and blue food color and made little heart shaped soaps in an ice tray. hopefully when they dry, they’ll be presentable enough for guest soap or a gift to my mom or sister.
Katie W. says
We did this today – FUN STUFF! I tagged your Facebook page; I don’t have a blog to link back to. 🙂 Thanks for the idea!
Nicole S says
So going to have to try that one with my niece. 🙂
Tamah says
After you do this, you can take the soap, put it in your blender, add a bit of water and food coloring and make it into paint. We did this last summer and my kids had a blast painting the bathtub walls!!
Christy says
I have tried this before..but am I the only one who didnt like it? I really don’t care for the smell of ivory soap and it seemed overpowering in my kitchen…gave me a headache.
Jessica Scott @ proverbslady.com says
I am so excited about this one. I just bought a three pack of ivory soap because it was free and now I have something really fun to do with it. I am putting this on the list for tomorrow. 🙂
Thanks for all the great family fun ideas this summer. This is my first summer to be home with my kids and I’m so glad to have all these great things to do with them.
Jessie says
Here’s a frugal tip: after doing this activity, use the soap pieces to make cheap and easy hand soap or body wash! Here’s some instructions I found: http://www.savvyhousekeeping.com/how-to-turn-a-bar-of-soap-into-liquid-hand-soap/
I can’t wait to do both of these things!
deborah says
This looks like fun and right up my alley, which equates to being SUPER EASY!! 🙂 I think my son would love this-well, both my kids, even though they’re not preschoolers anymore!
Lana says
I can’t wait to do this with my grandchildren while they are here in a few weeks!
Becky says
I have always wanted to try this!
Shelly says
My kids would really like this. We will have to give it a try.
The Prudent Homemaker says
I made a triple batch of play clay and divided it among 6 children. They had lots of fun with that.
I downloaded some free mp3 songs from Amazon today (thank you, Crystal!) One of them was the song, “When We’re Together” that the little girl asks her dad to dance to in the movie Courageous. I put it on and danced with my 7-year-old son in the kitchen. All of the chilren danced to some more songs that I have downloaded for free with the free MP3 credits you’ve been posting.
I started a batch of homemade peppermint patties with my 10-year-old today. Tomorrow we will finish making them.
jenn says
That is an awesome experiment. I will have to do this will my nephews.
Meghan says
We used our noodle sprinkler today. The kids were soaked and had a blast. I don’t have a blog post about it, but instructions can be found here: http://www.examiner.com/article/backyard-games-to-play-with-water
Amy F;) says
my kids are going to love this!!!! probably my husband too! 😉
Christie says
Does this experiment leave any “soap” taste behind on food you cook afterward?
lisa s says
i didn’t notice any. but after we cooked our soap, i took out the glass plate and washed it by hand and wiped out the microwave with vinegar water since our soap got large enough to touch the sidewall. There really wasn’t a mess as I cooked it on a paper towel, but I was a little paranoid so that’s why I cleaned it anyway.
Heather @ My Mothermode says
This one looks perfect since we just got tons of free Ivory soap at Walgreens today (7/1P). Plus, it looks perfectly easy! We did also did something really easy today, which I’ll blog about this week. Meanwhile, I linked up our fun at a “Pick Your Own” farm.
Courtney says
I love the soap idea…and I bet the micrwave smells yummy! We had fun “fishing” in our backyard today!
Jillian K. says
That looks cool. I’m tempted to do it now even though my kids are in bed!
Nearly Natural Nicole says
The soap in the microwave looks like fun! I’ll have to try that.
We had fun with our homemade sprinkler:
http://nearlynaturalnicole.blogspot.com/2012/07/fun-with-our-homemade-sprinkler.html
Katy @ Purposely Frugal says
Can you still use the soap afterwards?
Kris says
The link description says you can still use the soap after:-)
Katy @ Purposely Frugal says
Thanks!
SandyH says
This reminds me of when my son was in Cub Scouts. For the Blue and Gold Banquet, I was put in charge of making the centerpiece for our long table. The theme for the banquet was pirates. I used Ivory Snow and water, and whipped it with my electric hand mixer. It resulted in a cloud-like medium that I sculpted into a desert island, complete with a lagoon and pirate ship, a buried treasure with gold coins spilling out, palm trees, and lots of other pirate-y stuff.. It was easily painted using acrylic craft paint and spray paint. I built it on a long narrow piece of mat board.
Over the years we used the Ivory Snow for many other projects. The kids loved it!
Ashley @ These Precious Days says
We have this really fun game that my 5 year old and I made called “Parking Lot”. We saw it on Pinterest originally, but made some alterations to make it work for various math/reading skills. It takes a marker, 4 sheets of computer paper and some sticky notes. Oh, and cars of course (or if you have ponies…call it a stable!). Come check it out! http://these-precious-days.blogspot.com/2012/07/making-math-fun-parking-lot-game.html
Love the cool soap experiment, Crystal! Thanks!
Melissia @ Bravely Frugal says
We will have to try this! My kids will be fascinated!