Don’t children have just the cutest hands? They’re so small and so soft; it’s hard to imagine those adorable little hands are most likely covered in tiny living invaders — germs! Despite being such an easy thing to do, many kids simply do not want to take the time to wash their hands properly. And so those germ-ridden hands live on, touching everything and everyone and spreading like wildfire!
So what can we do to make washing hands a little more worthwhile for young, curious minds? Make it fun! Add some color, a great smell, and an incentive for all that scrubbing they’re going to want to start doing! Check out this recipe for a DIY hand soap that will add a little excitement into a very important activity:
And this week only, you can get 25% off your own set of nine essential oils (you choose which ones!) with coupon code BYOSCA918!
DIY Hand Soap Surprise
What you’ll need:
- 1 lb clear glycerin melt and pour base
- Soap coloring
- Soap mold
- Rubbing Alcohol (at least 91% alcohol to help reduce bubbling)
- Spray Bottle
- Small plastic toys that fit in the soap mold.
- 25 drops Bergamot (or other KidSafe single oil or KidSafe synergy of your choice)
What you’ll do:
- Fill spray bottle with rubbing alcohol.
- Melt the melt and pour soap base in a microwave safe bowl in increments of 20 seconds, stirring each time, until melted.
- Add coloring and essential oils, and mix.
- Spray silicone mold with rubbing alcohol.
- Pour soap into molds and spray tops of soap again with alcohol.
- Let set for a few hours before removing from mold. The number of soaps will depend on the size of the mold.
*Once the soap is melted you have to work quickly to transfer it into the molds before it starts solidifying again. Waiting to fill the spray bottle after the soap is melted can end up causing a “chunky” soap.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, proper hand-washing is one of the best – and easiest – ways to avoid getting sick and spreading germs to others. Unfortunately, hand washing is not an innate human skill — it needs to be taught! Teach your children why washing their hands matters. Explain what germs are and how they spread. Help them make the connection of how what they have on their hands can directly affect their health and the health of others.
Don’t underestimate the power of hand washing! 20 seconds spent at the sink could save you many trips to the doctor’s office.
To learn more about how to talk to your children about germs and washing hands, check out these great articles from kidshealth.org: What Are Germs? and Why Do I Need to Wash My Hands?
I made this with my girls using Sweet Dreams! It was so easy and it smells lovely!
This seems so easy and fun to make with the kids. I still need to buy the items if I want to make it.
We hope you give it a try! It’s pretty fun and easy to make with the kids 🙂
Putting the toys in the soap as an incentive to wash more often and for longer durations is genius! I think my daughters would enjoy making and using this soap.
We hope your daughters like them, Mandy! Thank you for sharing!
YUM! Might try this with my bergamont mint or grapefruit!
That sounds great, Sarah!
I’m really looking forward to trying this with my kids. I love the smell of bergamot!
This sounds like SO much fun! Maybe the surprises will help my kids remember to wash their hands, lol! 🙂
I know this is a Kid thing, but now I’m thinking this would be great as a favor for my friends shower! ❤️
I can’t wait to make this! My 5 year old daughter loves helping me make soap!
My daughter will love helping me make this!
can i melt my own old soap to replace clear glycerin melt and pour base?
Very excited to try these with my girls. Just have to find the melt and pour soap and coloring 🙂 Thanks for such good ideas!
Another great recipe idea! I’m always looking for crafts to do with my seven year old grandson. We already made a face refresher spray for which he picked the kid safe oils to use! You should have seen how cute he was, smelling each oil & commenting on them. I think we may use Legos as the toys since he’s a Lego-maniac! Thanks for the info.
Thanks for the great kid safe recipe! My kids and I will have to try it!
We hope you all love it!
DIY Essential Oil hand soap is one of my top DIYs I’m dying to try, and this is such a cool recipe! I’ll have to save it one day for when I have kids or even at my job working with kids. Thanks for this fun recipe!
You’re so welcome, Chloe! We hope you get to do it soon, you’ll have to let us know how it goes!
Thank you for this recipe. I can’t wait to give it a try!
Let us know how it turns out for you!
My grandson helped make these for my oldest granddaughters birthday. We put charms in the soaps. She wondered why she got a bracelet and a set of soap for her present. She thinks it will be fun to get a new charm with every soap she uses.
What a fun idea, Michelle! Thank you for sharing!
Making these for my kiddo (and the kiddos of a few friends!) this weekend! Thanks so much for this wonderful idea!
You’re very welcome! Have fun making them!
Such a fun craft with the kids!! Thank you!
You’re welcome, Paula! Have fun!
Is bergamot ok for a hand soap as it can be photosensitizing? Thanks
Jennifer, Plant Therapy’s Bergamot is bergaptine free, which means it is safe for use in the sun and not phototoxic. Great question!
My kids love helping make these! They think it’s so much fun using their soap, and it helps them remember to wash their hands more often. Thanks for another great recipe!
Definitely keeping this recipe! I’ve been wanting to try to make my own soaps for awhile and this looks like the perfect recipe to start with! I’m thinking Bergamot Mint would smell amazing!
Bergamot Mint would probably smell wonderful in a soap, thank you for sharing that idea, Heidi!
My kids love helping me make our own soap!
I can’t wait to try this recipe! My kids are going to love these soaps.
Oh this looks so neat! Excited to try this when my set comes!! Thanks plant therapy!
Brilliant idea to put toys inside! Are there any oils that we can’t use for this recipe? Assuming that we only choose kidsafe options, can we substitute for a scent we like?
You can definitely substitute with the KidSafe oils of your choice. Just be sure to keep an eye on max dilution recommendations.
I love the trinkets for kids idea. Only thing I would recommend is when putting the trinkets in the soap, do not push them in with your fingers. Use tongs, tweezers, or some other kind of pincer. Melted soap is quite hot – Maybe keep lavender EO nearby just in case 😉 Yes, I have had this bad experience.
my tween daughter and her friends LOVE making soap this way at our place. If using a clear soap we sometimes add tiny figurines inside( duck, hippo etc.).
My kids would love making their own soap….might have to be one of our next school holiday projects…Yay!!
Great idea Amy! I’m sure the kids will have lots of fun creating this DIY.
This is such a good idea! It might actually get my 3 year old to wash his hands.
So fun! I hope loves making them with you too 🙂
My 6 year old is always more likely to use the fun soap that we make together than the stuff we buy from a store. What a great idea to add a toy! That would definitely make him scrub LONGER that’s for sure!
Love doing melt and pour with the littles!! Washing hands is sooo much better than hand sanitizer!!!
Such a fun idea. These would make a good idea for party favors, or a DIY at a kid’s birthday!
Great idea Erin!
What a great activity to do with the kids! They can each create their own unique soap to use and a god way to encourage hand washing- especially if a little trinket is hidden in the middle.
I’m definitely going to try this with my friend’s son! He will love it!
I hope he enjoys it! It’s a fun little craft for kiddos to help with!
With back to school coming up, this a great craft and incentive for kids. When you get home, use the soap you made to wash up! Thanks Plant Therapy!
Great idea!! It’s always better when we can involve the kiddos in our creations!
This sounds like a great idea with Germ Destroyer! Might even try to make a few for friends with Germ Fighter for the next cold/flu season!
Let us know what you think!
This looks like one soap I can used. Most soaps have something I am allergic too.
I hope it works for you!!
Cant wait to try any make these!
We hope you enjoy making them! It’s such a fun spin on a DIY soap!
Love this. Thanks for sharing the creative idea! FYI, you may want to double-check “Spray silicone mild with rubbing alcohol”. I think mild may actually be mold?
Good catch! I’ll get that fixed. 🙂
my kids would love making these.
Thank you for sharing, Kassandra!
My kids would absolutely love this! They love making things for gifts, and this would be perfect for them to make for their friends!
That’s an awesome idea!
Hand washing is always a fun time around here. It might even be more meaningful if we made the Soap together. Thanks for the recipe!
I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
I have been looking for a kid safe soap recipe for a long time. I am so excited that we get to try this!
We are so glad you found this post, Chelsea! I hope you have fun making it, too!
cant wait to do this with my nieces and nephews gonna be a fun project not to mention they love smelling my oils when they come over..
This would be so fun! My kids would probably have tons of fun just with making it. They love PT’s DIY for kids.
OMG love it
So glad you like it!!
Can’t wait to try this for my grandson!! I just bought melt & pour soap to make him some animal shaped soaps, so now I’ll throw in a couple of surprise soaps. Love it!
I gotta try this sometime! Looks fun to have!
It definitely is! The kids love it, and it works great!
I made race car soaps for my grandsons birthday party as the thank you gift for coming. I used Germ Destroyer and made Blue & Pink cars. The kids loved getting their own soap.
When do you put the toy in?
I would pour the soap into molds, and then let it cool for a minute (not harden). Then push it down. 🙂
This is AWESOME! My kids will love this!
We hope they do Liz!
This will be so much fun! We sing our ABC’s while scrubbing our hands to make sure we’ve washed long enough 🙂
I love this surprise idea!! It could also be a fun project for little ones to help make (safely of course!)! Bergamot soap would smell delicious! Would it be a good idea to mix with Germ Destroyer or would that be unnecessary since it already is soap?
You could definitely use Germ Destroyer! 🙂