Being stuck at home has been rough. We are creeping up 70 days of quarantine life. That is 10 weeks. For those keeping track at home, that’s 10 weeks of no zoos, no museums, no parks, and no rock walls. That’s no playground time, no play dates, and no moms nights out. Wow. That’s a lot of time at home.
So needless to say, I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out fun, time-consuming activities, especially activities that will exhaust my children into some sort of afternoon nap time.
During this time, we’ve gotten into a bit of a routine…
On Mondays we do some science and math fun. Sometimes it’s sorting using our Veggie Farm game. Other times it’s creating patterns with leftover plastic Easter eggs.
On Tuesdays we do an activity at home and Wednesdays are “Water Table Wednesdays.”
Thursdays are an outing around the neighborhood and practicing bikes.
On Fridays we do some iPad learning time. We were gifted a subscription to ABC Mouse, and the kids have really enjoyed working through the lessons.
Saturdays alternate between puzzles, playdough, and art time while Sundays are devoted to Sunday School lessons.
During quarantine life, we have now made bath bombs twice. The nice thing about bath bombs is that they are relatively easy for kids to help make, are fun to use in the bathtub, and make the kids smell amazing and they give them incredibly soft skin.
Our bath bomb recipe creates eight large plastic Easter egg bath bombs. That’s 8 baths worth of fizzing, colorful fun! We used the Easter eggs because they were what was lying around after Easter, but there are lots of bath bomb molds you can find online or anything that closes shut like the molds will do. I’ve even seen ones online that used popsicle molds. Hey, whatever works! If you use a different mold, it may create more or less bath bombs.
One of the main ingredients is citric acid. When I first realized this was a main ingredient in almost all bath bomb recipes, I was a little unsure where to even find citric acid. It seems like such a novel ingredient that you would have to special order. I was quick to find out that it is a common ingredient used in canning! So I was able to go to the canning section at our local Target and find a bottle of citric acid.
Our recipe also uses essential oils to add a little relaxing scent to the bath bombs and thus the bath water. I really like using lavender because it’s nice and relaxing right before bedtime. You can use some oil combinations to create some great aromatherapy bath bombs, but be careful to not overdo it and that all the scents go well together. Sometimes, it’s better to be simple and stick with just one or two scents than more.
Ingredients and Items Needed:
- 2 Cups Baking Soda
- 1 Cup Citric Acid (One Bottle)
- 1 Cup Epsom Salt
- 2 Teaspoons Water
- 4 Teaspoons Essential Oil
- 6 Teaspoons Coconut Oil
- Food Coloring
- Bowls
- Measuring Cup
- Spoon
- Whisk
- Large Plastic Easter Eggs (or Other Bath Bomb Molds)
Instructions for Making Kid-Friendly Bath Bombs:
1. Mix all the dry ingredients – baking soda, citric acid, and epsom salt – into a bowl. We wanted to create 4 different colors, so we divided this recipe into 4 bowls. Adding dry ingredients to the bowl is a really easy task, even for young toddlers, so this is an easy part for them to feel included. A plus is that it’s at the beginning before they lose interest.
2. Whisk together all of the dry ingredients until they are well blended.
3. Combine all wet ingredients into a measuring cup. Since we were doing 4 colors, I divided the recipe by 4 and I combined the wet ingredients 4 different times, once for each color. Just make sure to rinse out the cup each time between colors so that the food coloring doesn’t mix.
4. Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. The mixture will start to fix slightly, but it is important to pour the wet ingredients slowly and a little at a time so that the citric acid isn’t activated. Alternate pouring a little and mixing it in.
5. Mix everything together with your hands! This is the really fun part for kids. Using your hands, mix and – as my kids say – “mush” all of the ingredients together until their start to become crumbly. Make sure all the dry ingredients have been mixed with the wet ingredients before starting the next step.
6. Pack the mixture into the bath bomb mold. Since each of my kids chose two colors, they packed each side of the mold with a different color so that their molds would be multi-colored. The older your kids, the more complicated the color patterns can be! Don’t fill each side of the mold completely as the mixture will slightly expand. Fill it until it’s about 2/3rds to 3/4ths full. This will allow some room for the mixture to expand without exploding everywhere.
7. Put the two mold sides together and freeze for several hours. Freezing them allows the mixture to set and creates the bath bomb!
8. Once set, slowly loosen the mold and remove it from the bath bomb. We like to store our bath bombs in the freezer in a plastic bag. The eggs or molds will rinse easily and you can use them again the next time!
9. Pick a bomb and watch it fizz! Now comes the hardest part – telling your little ones they can only use one bath bomb in their bath and not all of them at once! It does color the water, but it won’t color your little one’s skin.
I love how this is an easy activity to do with little ones and they love to get messy and really into it. The mixture can get a little all over the place if your little ones keep taking their hands out so this can easily be made into an outside activity that would make cleanup easy. To clean up, all you need is water! A sink or a hose can easily clean down any area where the mixture has spilled – it just dissolves!
I hope y’all have as much fun making these as we do! I foresee us making many more of these fizzing bath bombs in the future!