Soap Clouds and Bath Soaps

You may have heard that Ivory Soap floats... but did you know it could do this??

Yup!  Just a minute or two in the microwave and you have a soap cloud!

And a with a little bit of added water, food coloring, and handiwork you have some fun soaps for bath time!

What you need:

• a bar of Ivory soap
• wax paper
• microwave
• water
• food coloring
• cookie cutters

What to do:

• Place the unwrapped soap on some wax paper in the microwave
• Microwave for 2 minutes, watching it grow (it might take less that two minutes... the cloud above was from about one minute but I stopped it a little prematurely... when it stops growing, it's done)
• Have fun exploring!  What does it look like?  How does it smell?  How does it feel?  You can try coloring it, painting it, crushing it, etc...
• To make soaps, crush the cloud into a bowl
• Add a little water and stir/squish together until it's the consistency of pie crust
• Add a drop or two of food coloring if desired
• Squish into cookie molds and let dry 

Some notes:

• Only Ivory works with this so don't try other kinds.  If you read comments on other blogs featuring this activity you will see that not only will other kinds of soap be unsuccessful, they may be dangerous.  
• The fresher the soap the better.
• Do not leave this unattended in the microwave.  If it gets too big or starts smoking, turn it off!
• Put the soap on a piece of wax paper, plastic wrap, paper towel in the microwave.  Do not use foil!
• Be careful taking it out of the microwave just in case it's hot.  Mine hasn't been hot but I would hate for someone to try this, get burned, and tell me I should have warned them...

You can find the original post where we got our ideas here and you can read about the physics of Ivory Soap here.  Have fun!