Creative Classroom: Soap

Making glycerin soap is surprisingly easy to make - even with 56 Kindergarteners. We actually made ours for Mother's Day, but it's the kind of project that is good anytime of year.
Our favorite substitute and honorary kindergarten teacher, Ms. Tilson, makes soap in her spare time. She was more than happy to come by and help us. For our large group, we used a 10lb. tub of melt and pour glycerin soap. Ms. Tilson cut it into small bits and then popped in the microwave a minute or two at a time, stirring inbetween.
Once the soap was melted, an adult poured it into empty applesauce, yogurt, and other small containers that we saved from lunchtime. The containers should be coated with a layer of vaseline to ensure easy soap removal.
Here's where the kids had fun. They got to choose 4 cute beads to add to the soap. After Ms. Tilson added a few drops of peppermint essential oil, the soap was stirred to make everything come together. The soap needs to set overnight - it can be very hard to wait for the soap to be ready. Once ready, pop the soap out of the containers and go wash your hands!

Note: Since we were doing this project with so many kids in a short time period, the teachers directed most of the activity. If you made with a small group, the kids could participate more.