Making washing fun for kids--ideas

[CathyB]

I've just learned that my great niece has to go to her g grandma's house to use bar soap (mom just has liquid soap), and it quite enamored with the whole hand washing process.

She's 2 1/2, so I know her little hands can't handle commercial-size bars, and I think an olive oil bar would be too slimy for her little grip based on my novice efforts so far.

I love creamy, wildly bubbly lather, and I'll bet that is a bit selling point for her. Colors are nice. I'm hesitant to use fragrance to avoid it smelling too yummy.

What other considerations go into making a soap a wee one would just love to use and that would be uber safe?

 

[TheGecko]

Amazon has smaller cavity molds and decorative individuals that are good for smaller had. I have both and I picked up a couple of small size molds on clearance at Brambleberry. For my granddaughter who is three, I made some lightly scented English Rose in a pale pink with an ecoglitter and fairy dust...Princess Soap. Did a pale purple with Lilac and glitter stuff for a friend’s daughter who is six. They loved them. I have some super pale blue curing for my new grandson...my version of a baby bastile.

 

[Lankan]

I actually wanted to make smiley-faced soaps something like this

 

[BattleGnome]

I find coconut and lard make a great bar after a long cure but I’d worry the coconut might be too harsh on young skin.

M&P might be fun. There are lots of options for ingredients if you or mom have any worries. If she’s a bit patient you can let her watch you make the soap (I’d say wait a few years before letting her participate). She can pick out her favorite colors and scents then use the soap an hour later. Instant gratification!

Embeds could be fun too. Small toys in clear m&p shouldn’t be an issue, if she continues her love affair with soap you can upgrade those embeds to cash as she grows older. If you choose to stick with CP small cut outs of fun shapes can decorate the tops.

 

[Ladka]

I make lard/tallow/CO/castor oil soap for my five grandsons aged between three and eight years. I scent only slightly with lemongrass, mint, orange blossom. Sometimes I use an inlay (a star, a fir tree, a heart, a flower, a bell...). I've also made a toycar mould but have to improve it.

 

[shunt2011]

My grandkids have loved my soap for several years. I just cut my full bars in half for them or make individual soaps from leftover soap Bette. One loves cotton candy and the other loves bubble gum. I use lard co, sunflower, Shea and castor.

 

[Dawni]

This one looks promising. As stated, it's what my 2.5 year old is currently using - if you scroll up a few more posts I talk about his butt n leg rashes lol and the recipe is on the first post.

I'm sure you can get away with even less coconut but maybe it'll need a longer cure? Or maybe add lard to lower the RBO.... I'm currently tweaking this one, too.

 

[lsg]

Have you thought of using crayon molds for soap that she can use in the bathtub? You can use M&P base or do CP. I also do soap embeds in clear M&P base for little ones. One year I did fossil eggs with dinosaur embeds in clear M&P eggs for Easter and snowman embeds in clear M&p in a domed mold with glitter added, to resembled a snow globe.

 

[cmzaha]

Trying this post again in the right thread.
We always sold a lot of lifesaver and lego type soap shapes for younger kids in bakery type scents. Lego block shapes were also extremely popular. I remember one mom had to keep a stock of the lifesaver soaps because it was the only soap her young son would use. My granddaughter when she was a toddler loved mini cupcake soaps in bakery scents. Actually she loved her bucket of soaps and would pick out what she wanted to use for the day. She had lots of fun shaped soaps. A child will only bite a soap once. Soaps with embedded surprised were also fun. Marshmallow soaps are also fun and I could send you some, but my daughter will not let me release the recipe for sale yet. I keep trying to get her to sell it as a pdf file but she refuses. They are such neat soaps. They float, they squish, but what I have do not have a lot of fragrance left or not as soft as fresh ones, but still great soapies.