Science Experiments for Kids
I have mentioned before that Kaleb loves science experiments. When I came across numerous videos on youtube all about the ivory soap experiment, I knew we had to try it. This is one of the simplest experiments that you can do with your kids, and it is virtually mess free.
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Ivory Soap Experiment Supplies:
- a microwavable plate
- fresh bar of Ivory Soap
- a microwave
We started our experiment by dropping our Ivory soap bar into water. The kids were amazed that a full sized Ivory bar floated and an almost used up bar of a different brand sunk. It would have been better to have another full sized bar, but that was the only other of bar of soap I could find in a hurry. We are more a liquid soap family. If you are interested in why Ivory soap floats, you can find one explanation here.
Ivory Soap Experiment
We placed the Ivory soap bar in the center of a plate and into the microwave. All the kids stood on a bench so they could have a good view of what was happening in the microwave. You will want to make sure everyone can see before you begin because it is amazing!
Experiment
Cook the bar for 2 minutes on high in the microwave. Ours started to change after about 20 seconds and continued for the full 2 minutes. When your soap cloud is finished, let it cool before letting the kids touch it.
The kids were totally amazed by the soap cloud. Our Ivory soap totally transformed.
I didn’t want to waste a whole bar of soap, even for a cool experiment. So instead of throwing the soap cloud in the garbage, we decided to use it in a fun new recipe that will incorporate our soap “cloud”. We did our experiment one day and let it sit on the counter overnight before we created our Fluffy Bath Tub Paint. Click on the link for the recipe.
So cool! We are so trying this one tomorrow after school.
This was one of the kids favorite things we have done so far! The kids even gave a demonstration to everyone tonight. So fun.
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one thing you can do with the soap is to make laundry soap with it
Great Idea! I love making my own laundry soap.
fun! Definately will try this one with the kids!
I featured this post and a couple of others on my blog today. You can find it here:
http://sunscholars.blogspot.com/2011/03/scholarly-inspirations.html
You can grab a featured button from my side-bar if you’d like to post it on your site.
Thanks for such a fun idea!!
:)rachel from SunScholars.blogspot.com
O.K. I’ve seen so many great things! I am following you!!!!
I just had a peek at your creative blog. Great ideas! I love seeing what kiddos create, thanks for sharing!
So I found to post and thought it was a great amazing experiment but as a college student I didn’t have a bar of ivory soap so my roommates and I tried this with Zest and Dial . They only need little bit over an minute and didn’t get as big but This is a sweet experiment that I will remember when I have my own classroom in the future! Tomorrow we are going to compared Ivory soap to our other two soap clouds.
I would love to hear how your experiment goes. We have only tried Ivory soap, but I am curious what the other brands look like. Thanks.
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I think my favorite part of this post is when your daughter asked, how did WE do that. You can tell that you do a lot of fun things with them and they enjoy taking ownership of them!
What a fun project!! Can’t wait to try this with my boys! I loved this so much I shared your page on my blog: http://our-scott-spot.blogspot.com/2011/07/fun-find-friday-family-activities.html
So I had seen this post, but didn’t have any Ivory soap (we’re a liquid soap family too). But then last night i saw that I had some old bars still wrapped up in my bathroom. It just so happened to be Ivory! I was excited. Well as I unwrapped the soap I saw that it was from 2003…..just a little old. Apparently the age of the soap affects the experiment becuase it didn’t work….So my kids are now begging me to make a special trip to the store go get some soap that isn’t too old and try again. Thanks for peaking our interest 🙂
Hey there, You have done a great job. I will certainly digg it and individually recommend to my friends. I am sure they will be benefited from this website.
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That is a pretty cool experiment. The kids cracked me up with their reactions.
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This is so amazing! I am a preschool teacher and do a “SCIENCE WEEK” each year with my class- I will DEFINITELY be adding this experiement to my list for next week when explaining “heat”! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
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Very neat! Where can I find your follow up soap recipe?
Is there a way I can make this a poster board science project? I thought I would take photos of the floating and the “melting” and tie it into the density and bouncy etc. How do I do this?
Thank you for any help. =))))
Anyone know what soap properties/ingredients are needed for this to work? I can’t get Ivory soap in Australia and the kids would LOVE to do this experiment! I’m not keen on buying one of everything, to try, so any suggestions would be great!
sup awesome expanding soap it is so fun to do
awesome soap
Oh wow! This is what i did for my science thingy!
I found your website on Pinterest. I LOVE all the creative ideas you have for kids – art & experiments. This will keep us busy all summer! Thanks for the inspiration!!!
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I want to try this, but will it make ny microwave smell like soap and food taste like it?
Our house did have a soap smell that lingered for a few hours. But I did not notice the microwave smelling or the food cooked in it tasting like soap. I would be interested to hear others thoughts as well.
Thanks so much for sharing 🙂
hello, I dont live in the USA, we dont have Ivory soap bars here.
Does it have to be Ivory or it can be Dove as well? Why Ivory? (maybe it its because of some specific ingredient, i can look up what we have here that might be similar to the Ivory bar). The idea is excelent, i know my 4 year old will absolutely love it ! i really wish i can make this , please send some suggestions!
Thank you
I have tried this with Dove today with the children and it didn’t work :-(. Back to the drawing board! Thankyou for sharing though.