Earlier in the week we were asked to share soap making with a class of about 30 kids who range in age from 1st graders to high school seniors… great kids that are learning in a home school setting rather than the traditional options. They meet weekly for art and science as a large group…. in a well organized, structured situation.
OUR MISSION: Teach the science of making soap, and then have the kids participate in the process of making the soap. We assigned tasks:
- Lining the soap mold
- Taping the lining down
- Measuring the oils (each oil was a different child)
- Measuring the essential oils
- Grinding the botanicals (Lavender Buds)
- Mixing the oils together
- Heating the oils
- Testing temperature of the lye water
- Testing temperature of the oil mix
- Using the blender stick to mix the oils with lye mixture
- adding the essential oils/botanicals
- pouring the mix into the mold
- washing dishes
- drying dishes
- covering the soap batch
All told we made two 4 pound batches of soap. The first was lavender, the second was rosemary peppermint.
We had a great day, and than you Mrs Tina for having us out. You have such a wonderful group of kids who are eager to learn, enjoy the learning process, and get along so well together. Here are some photos:
We explained the saponification process – however i never got to give my presentation… lighting, time and the lack of visibility to see it caused us to make a decision to just teach the content, rather than run the prezi. Here it is if you would like to see what we planned to show.
