DIY bath crayons

I read this page about making bath crayons and I was a bit skeptical. Will the food dye colour their skin? Will the soap crayons get really squishy once they are wet? Will they actually be coloured enough to draw on the bath/wall? So, Mr Sociable & I had a go at making our own. We used plain white soap, food colouring & a few different fragrances.

First, we grated the soap. Mr Sociable grated about half a bar (and a little bit of his finger - which he wanted me to show you). I grated two and a half bars.

Hard at work

Can you see it? It's very small!

Finished!

Next we divided the soap shavings into 4 separate bowls. We added fragrance and food colour to each. 

Yellow food colouring and lemon essence.

We mixed the colour and fragrance through the soap shavings.

I removed his white shirt for this job!

Next, I added a tablespoon or two of warm water and mixed it through with my (gloved) hand.

I shaped them, wrapped them in plastic wrap and put them in the freezer for a while (which is what the instructions said to do - not sure what the freezing it for - will try it without next time).

Red (vanilla essence), Green (peppermint essence),
Blue (eucalyptus oil), Yellow (lemon essence)

I then unwrapped them & left them to dry on a wire rack for a couple of days. Tonight we tested them out in the bath & they were a big hit! They did get a little slimy when wet, but no worse that a bar of soap. The crayons did draw on the kids skin and the bath, but were really easy to wash off. The water turned red (which Mr Sociable liked!). The only problem I had was getting the colour off the grout between the tiles (but shop-bought bath crayons have the same issue). They are fine, so long as the drawing stays IN the bath.

So, the experiment was definitely a success! Will make these again. If your kids have sensitive skin, you could try making them with an unfragranced soap (eg. Simple, or sorbolene soap). Next time, I want to make them in silicone ice-cube trays so that we can make cool shapes!