When I was a little girl I was always fascinated by the fact that Ivory soap could float. All that air inside, along with the extra moisture found in the little bar of soap, also causes a super fun reaction when you put Ivory soap in the microwave for this simple kids experiment: Ivory Soap Explosion.
If you’ve never done this one before, I guarantee it will get quite a reaction from all the kids, and even the adults! It’s good clean fun, with no waste. The soap is still usable once you’re finished!
To begin, we looked at the bar of Ivory soap. The kids felt it, smelled it, and examined it closely. I cut a small piece off the corner so they could see how Ivory soap floats. Then they tried a different type of soap, which, of course, sank right away.
After closely examining the bar we put the soap on a microwave-safe plate and put in in the microwave.
The kids watched in awe as the soap began to grow.
Within a minute the bar of soap had exploded to several times its usual size! We left the Ivory soap in the microwave for 2 minutes. Then we let it cool several minutes before touching it. (Remember, microwaves make things hot. Use caution! Break it in half and checked the insides before letting the kids handle it.)
My kindergartner started crumbling it up right away, anxious to get her hands in the stuff.
The preschooler started off a little more tentatively, but pretty soon the cars joined the mix — it was a blizzard!
They both played with the Ivory soap snow for almost an hour.
Then I got out the cookie cutters. We mixed a little bit of warm water into the soap until it was able to be molded. The kids used spoons to squish the soap into some cookie cutters. We left the cookie cutters on a piece of wax paper to dry, and once the soap was dry (overnight), we pushed out our new soap shapes.
As I said, it was good clean fun, and the soap is still usable!
Have your own clean fun with this simple kids science experiment and make an Ivory soap explosion. 
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Susie@homemaker-mom says
O m y gosh. I do not have little ones but my homeschooled teen would love to try this! Thank you for the awesome post!
OneMommy says
Oh, it is definitely a winner for any age! My husband thought it was pretty cool himself!
Susen says
Cool! Never heard of this one before!!
Leslie says
How cool! I don’t have kids so I don’t get to do cool stuff like this. It looks like the kiddo’s had fun with it.
Valerie says
I never thought of trying that. We haven’t used bars of soap in years but if I can get my hands on an Ivory bar, I bet the kids would have a blast. Love your ideas for exploring it. Thanks for sharing.
OneMommy says
We don’t tend to use Ivory here…. Not even sure how/why it was in the cabinet! But we had fun playing with it!
Julia says
This looks like so much fun, I will have to pick up some ivory soap tomorrow.
OneMommy says
My preschooler has asked to do it again — definitely a hit! 🙂
Michelle says
How fun!!! I can’t wait to do this (I’m a big kid at heart :), I’m sure my daughter would love this too 🙂
OneMommy says
LOL — I couldn’t wait to try it myself!
Ashley says
Super fun! Thank you for linking up to the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop!
Shalynne says
I need to remember to do this one! I’ve seen it a couple other places and always forget. Great idea!
OneMommy says
I’d been wanting to try it for a while now — definitely give it a go!
Julie @ Don't Lick Your Sister says
This is such a neat idea – had no idea Ivory soap would do this. Thanks for sharing!
OneMommy says
Oh, definitely try it!! I bet Dino would love to use it as snow like my little guy did!
Julie @ Girl on the Move says
Stopping by from the SITS Share Fest and I absolutely love this idea! Would be a great way to entertain the toddlers!!!
Jill says
Okay this is too cool! I never knew soap would do that!
Thank you for stopping by the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop this week. We hope to see you drop by our neck of the woods next week!
Donna DM Yates says
Wow, I didn’t know about this. I’ll have to try it myself.