In a bid to make our inside pollution days happy ones, I decided to start a collection of arts and crafts tutorials, that can be done at home with the kids. All the art supplies will be sourced from online stores so parents don’t have to brave the pollution. I am a big fan of kids craft that both look cool and are usable. A crafty child is a happy child, and a happy child is a happy life.
Soap making was something that was still on my to do list, since I inherited some soap making goodies from another expat leaving Beijing. I decided that my toddler needed to resolve her hand-washing reluctance. What better way than to all gather together and make our own soap?
I had a box of soap base and decided to add some coconut oil and lavender essential oils. Lavender oil is one of the safest oils for kids to use. I found some dried lavender here and silicone molds here. You can use baking silicone molds, just don’t use them to make food after making the soap. I also used some additional kitchen utensils like a spatula and a whisk.
My daughter (almost 4) had a great time picking out molds and finally settled on the star mold. I cut the soap base and dropped it in a big pot. I am pretty sure I was supposed to melt the soap base over a warm water bath, but I didn’t quite follow the instructions. Doing it my own way!
We added the coconut and lavender oils and slowly melted the soap on the stove. My daughter added the dried lavender to the molds and I poured the melted soap mixture.
We put the soaps in the fridge overnight and, when they were ready, we popped them out of the molds. My daughter seemed very proud that she made her own soap and hopefully she will use them often, as the lavender will calm her down.
Pauline van Hasselt has been working for beijingkids since October 2016. Born in Wassenaar, The Netherlands, she moved with her husband and her 3 year-old daughter to Beijing in June of this year. Prior she lived in the Netherlands, Belgium, Paraguay, Texas, and London, studying and working as a chef. Pauline enjoys biking around Beijing, finding markets and new restaurants, reading crime and fantasy books in bed, and most importantly, turning her house into a home for her family.
