Here’s a great way to let your kids have more fun in the bath! So easy to make using household ingredients! These make wonderful gifts for Christmas, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day or as a cute party favours!
What you will need:
Ingredients:
1 & 3/4 cup of bi-carb soda
2 cups cornflour
1 cup citric acid (found in the baking aisle of the grocery store)
Food colouring
Essential oil
Utensils:
Spritzer bottles
Mixing Bowl
Smaller bowls
Sifter
*Baking molds – we used silicone as it’s so much easier to get the fizzies out
1. Sift the baking soda, citric acid, and cornstarch into mixing bowl.
2. Fill the spritzer bottles with water and add about 6 drops of food colouring to each (we had 2 bottles and then washed them out as we have four colours)
3. Pour a cup or so of your powdered mixture into a smaller bowl. Lightly spritz, stirring after each spritz, until the powder is your desired colour. Add water slowly, so mixture does not fizz. When your mixture has a ‘wet sand’ consistency & can be tightly packed or shaped, stop spritzing (this may take a little while). Do this with all of your colours.
3. Select an essential oil – we used a lovely lemon scented one. Add a few drops and mix well.
4. Firmly pack mixture into the baking molds. My Master 5 had a ball doing this, he loved the feel of it.
5. Let your mixture sit for a few hours – preferably over night. We found that the longer we left them, the easier it was to get them out of the molds without any breakages.
*note you WILL get a few casualties when getting your bath fizzies out of their mold so make sure you make extra : )
These literally ‘fizz’ up in the bath and the kids LOVED them!
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Let us know if you try them and what your kids thought of them!
Check out some of our other ‘Bath Time Fun’ Activities:
5 Little Duck Bath Finger Puppets
Jenni x
Did this with my 1 and 3 year olds, I’m not sure what they found the most fun, miss one mastering using the spray bottle and it becoming her favourite toy for a week, actually making them and squishing it altogether and into the moulds, running the quickest ever to get in the bath or enjoying them fizz!
Oh and we let them dry for a day and a half and they all came out perfectly 🙂
Thanks for sharing yet another fun activity!
Sally
That’s great Sally! So glad you & your kids had a blast as did we! Jenni x
Do you think I could put these in the oven to make them dry faster? I was going to use it for a craft at a birthday party
I can’t see why not…although we haven’t tried it ourselves – I would say only a warm oven not hot.
Louise
Hi, Bicarb soda, is that baking soda? (live in the Netherlands so not really familiar with it… But would love to make them!
Yes Hilde, yes they are the same. So great to have a fan all the way in the Netherlands! Jenni x
You can go to the Toko or oriental specialty store and buy “Arm and Hammer” baking soda. I used to get it on Steenstraat in Arnhem.
Hi Karin, always have baking soda in the cupboard! I use a lot of American recipes! 😉 But thanks!
Is it cornflour or cornstarch?
Both are the same…it’s called Cornflour in Australia & Cornstarch in the states : ) Jenni x
ok. i found cornflour in the store. that’s why i asked. Thanks! 🙂
No problem Jessica! Happy Crafting : ) Jenni x
Have told my son about your site. He is a single Dad and he and my granddaughter love doing craft activities together.
That’s wonderful news Sue, what a great Daddy he is! Sometimes I wish we had of called our page “Paging Fun Mums AND Dads”. Thank you for telling him about us : ) Jenni x
Is there somewhere in Brisbane that sells the citric acid in larger amounts than the little bottle at the supermarket?
I’m sorry I’m not sure about that. You could possibly try your local chemist as they often use it to clean sterilisers etc. Louise x
This soooo great! I have two boys 4 and 2 and it wasn’t long ago we ran out of the.tub colors we had bought a bunch of as stocking stuffers. now that i kno we can make our own its so awesome. Quick question tho, is the citric acid essential for the recipe to work? Is that what makes.it.fizz when paired with the baking soda?
Hi Sara, So great to hear that you like this recipe! Yes, the citric acid reacts with the Bicarb when wet :). Louise x
Thank you for contributing this awesome activity! My boys love hands on crafts….now bathtime will be even more fun;)
I am in the United States and most Essential Oils here are for home oil burners and diffusers, anyone got a clue or a website where I can find some that’s safe for the skin.
Hi Sam, do you have any natural health food stores in your area? Louise x
You can find some safe for skin essential oils in most craft stores. They will be in the soap/lotion making section of the store.
My 6yr old granddaughter and I have had a BLAST doing the projects on your page. THANK YOU from Texas
I am in the states (PA) and can’t find citric acid anywhere. Does anyone know where I can find this or if it has a different name here?