Chicken Coop Chatter©
This is just a fun and easy project and you can engage the kidlets in it. Did you know that when Ivory soap is placed in the microwave for a couple of minutes that it grows into a big fluffy mass? Well, it's time you tried it to see for yourself. You MUST use Ivory soap, other soap won't work. (but feel free to experiment).
NOTE: Doing this in your microwave will not hurt it, just do not use any metal. The soap smell may remain in the microwave for a day or two, but you can wipe out with a damp cloth and place a small dish of vinegar in the microwave, heated for about 50 seconds will remove most of that smell.
SUPPLIES NEEDED
1 Bar IVORY Soap
Paper Plate, Paper Towel, Wax Paper or plastic wrap
Soap molds or Cookie Cutters
Soap scents or Essential Oils (optional)
Soap Dyes or Food Coloring (optional)
Bowl
Hand Mixer, Food Processor or Blender
Water
Place the fresh bar of IVORY soap on a paper plate. Set in the microwave on high and set for 2 minutes. You can stop the microwave at any point as you choose. I let mine run for one minute 45 seconds. Within seconds the IVORY soap is starting to fluff up and resemble a souffle, but the longer it goes, up to the 2 minutes the fluffier it will get. You can leave the soap longer, but once it's fluffed to it's maximum it will not fluff any more. It seems the fresher the soap (newly purchased), the higher it fluffs. If it's soap you've had in the linen closet awhile it may not fluff up as much as a fresher bar.
As soon as the soap is as fluffy as you want, remove from the microwave. When you remove the soap fluff you will notice it is not soft, and in fact if you touch it, it will crumble. After you and your kidlets marvel over what happens, crumble the soap fluff into a bowl or bowl of a food processor. Add just enough water for the soap to hold together. Beat with a hand mixer or process in a blender or Food processor until the soap holds together like a dough. Add scent and food coloring as desired and press into molds or cookie cutters. (Anything can be used as a mold, just make sure it's easy to release the finished soap). The soap *dough* is easy to sculpt with your hands if you feel creative.
This is a project the kidlets will love and will entertain and educate them. Allow them to do the crumbling, and pressing into the molds or cookie cutters. You may want to set up a table for them to play with the soap dough as long as they like. When finished, allow the molded soap to cure before using. When bath time comes, no doubt the kidlets will be anxious to take a bath and they'll even get clean because they'll want to play with their creations. With a little extra creativity the soap dough can be hand molded into shapes. Just allow the kids to go at it and see what they come up with.
Now if you want to know the science behind why this works, it's because of the way Ivory soap is made. It's whipped, so there are a lot of air pockets in it. When placed in the microwave, the heat begins to combine with the water and air in the soap, causing it to expand and in this case *fluff* up. You can experiment with other soaps, however they will melt, rather than fluff up mainly because of the lanolin in the soap. But for an educational experiment it would be worth seeing the differences.
With summer vacation coming up for most kidlets, this will be a good *clean* project to keep them busy and entertained. And, I recall in school, we used Ivory soap for carving, but make sure you do this with children old enough to understand the process. A blunt kitchen knife is the choice for smaller children, but for adults with carving tools, go for it and see what you can create. Who says only the kidlets can have some fun? Enjoy!
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