There’s nothing more special than a kid-made gift – especially if it’s a gift that comes with some well deserved pampering. That’s why my 4 year-old daughter and I decided to make scented homemade bath bombs for the wonderful moms and grandmoms in our lives. This kid-made gift is sure to please!
P.S. Looking for some easy ways to add super cool, hands-on science to your classroom or home? Hop over and grab 30 Science Experiments your kids will love!
Getting Ready
To make 12 muffin-sized homemade bath bombs, we first gathered a few supplies:
-
- 1 cup baking soda
- 3/4 cup corn starch
- 1/4 cup Epsom salt or cane sugar
- 1/2 cup citric acid (available in natural food stores or online for canning})
- Food coloring (optional)
- Essential oils (optional)
- Large bowl
- Measuring cups
- Mixing spoon
- Sifter
- Spray bottle with water
- Anything that can serve as a mold (silicone molds, plastic eggs, muffin tin lined with saran wrap, etc.)
Homemade Bath Bombs
Once I gathered all the supplies, A quickly ran over, excited to make her grandmom some fizzy homemade bath bombs. First, she measured out the baking soda, cornstarch, Epsom salt and citric acid and mixed them in a large bowl. Since this recipe is pretty forgiving, it’s a perfect measuring activity for younger children as well.
A sifted the dry ingredients to break up any chunks. This was a pretty dusty step (which is why we did it outside) and one I’m not sure was really necessary.
Next, I asked A what scent she wanted to make. She chose orange and jasmine. A added several drops of orange food coloring to the water in the spray bottle and slowly began spraying the dry mixture. She loved watching the mixture fizz each time she sprayed it. The key was to lightly spray it, wetting it enough that the mixture formed a clump when squeezed but not so much that it lost its fizziness.
Next, A added several drops of orange and jasmine essential oil and thoroughly stirred the mixture. Then, she scooped the mixture into the silicone muffin liners and firmly pressed it down. The homemade bath bombs were really coming together!
A and even her little brother, Q, loved mixing up this fizzy concoction so much we ended up making 3 more batches. Both kids had a cold, so in addition to lemon-lavendar and pink grapefruit, we made some sinus clearing peppermint-eucalyptus using peppermint baking extract.
You can use whatever molds you have on hand – even cookie cutters on a baking pan or an ice cube tray would work well. We also made egg-shaped bath bombs with leftover Easter eggs. They turned out super cute!
For the egg molds, gently remove half the egg shell after an hour or so to allow it to completely dry. Leave the bombs out to dry overnight and then gently pop them out. Store them in an airtight container or package them up for that special someone who deserves a little extra R & R.
Now all I need it to get my kids to give me a little quiet time so I could enjoy a few of them. I guess I’ll have to wait until Mother’s Day!
The Science Behind It
When you drop your fizzy bomb into the tub, the water sets off a chemical reaction between the citric acid and the baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). That’s why the dry mixture fizzed when it was sprayed with water. During the reaction, carbon dioxide is created making those relaxing, fizzing bubbles.
Want More?
Hop over and grab 30 Science Experiments your little scientists will love!
we can put glycerin in bath bombs?
Our bath fizzies continued to fizz and expand beyond the molds. Too wet? We stipped adding water when we could squeeze the powder into a ball.
Same here. My theory is that I put way too much water and made it fizz (release CO2) in the bowl instead of the tub. I will try again with way less water. I was worried about not being able to make it clump with all of the powders.
Hi Sarah C. It sounds like you may have added too much water. We stirred while spraying to help control the fizzing and checked to see if the mixture would clump when squeezed after every few sprays. It should clump but crumble if poked gently. It will seem a little on the dry side but it hardens really well just being slightly damp. You could also dampen it with an oil like almond oil or jojoba, these won’t cause the fizzy reaction until dropped in the bath. Good luck!
Awesome!! Thank you! You solved my problem…will do this next time! Fun stuff!
These are so cute. My daughter would love making these. Hope you don’t mind if I put this link on my blog for my Mother’s Day Gift Ideas round up.
Would I be able to replace the citric acid with lemon juice?
Hi Alayna,
You can use lemon juice to replace the citric acid. I’d add about 1/2 cup but add it in small amounts to make sure the mixture isn’t too wet. It will fizz quite a bit because you are using a wet source of citric acid. Good luck!
Can you use paper liners or just silicon?
Thanks!
The liners are used to make it easy to pop out when the fizzies are dry. I also think the zigzag edge is cute. You do have to press the mixture into the liners quite firmly so I think paper liners would lose that edge design but they might work. I’m not sure how the moisture in the paper liners would hold up though. It’s certainly worth a shot though.
How long will the bath bombs take to dry?
They take overnight to really dry and harden.
Will the food coloring dye the skin?
Nope! You end up using so little dye that it doesn’t even change the color of the bath water. It just makes the bath bombs a pretty color but will disappear when dissolved in the bath.
What a great idea! Thanks for the recipe! My 5 year old and I are going to make these for Christmas gifts for his teachers and his Grandma! 🙂 I also heard you can get little plastic prizes (from the Dollar Store) and press them inside – when the fizzy dissolves in the tub, the prize floats to the top of the bath water! 🙂 We’re gonna try it!
I want a. Kit of your how can i get one