Soap Carving for Kids

Summer is the perfect time to get outside with the kids and try some fun activities together.

Even if the kids can’t make it to camp this year, you can have fun with your own backyard camp activities.

Have fun and teach basic knife skills with soap carving for kids.

simple soap carving activity for kids

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This simple camp craft would be fun to do at home or as a scout camp activity.

Soap Carving for Kids

Materials Needed:

Before starting this activity, use your knife to cut one end of each craft stick into a point. This will turn it into a carving utensil.

By using craft sticks, even younger campers can try their hand at soap carving.

For older kids, with good adult supervision, you may want to introduce using a pocket knife. We really like this small pocket knife for beginners because the blade locks in place, helping prevent accidents.

Ivory soap carving simple craft for kids

Simple Soap Carving

To start your project, use the point you made on the the craft stick to draw a basic shape on one side of your bar of soap. (Ivory soap works best.)

Then, using the edge of the craft stick, slowly begin shaving pieces of soap away from the shape you drew. (You can try using the shavings in this Ivory soap experiment.)

As you get close to the shape you are aiming for, you can begin taking smaller shavings off and using the point of your craft stick to add details.

You can use this activity to teach basic knife skills. Start by making sure your child only cuts away from themselves when using their craftstick knife. If you have more than one child doing kids soap carving, make sure they leave plenty of space between them.

how to do soap carving

Basic Soap Carving Tips

A simple pattern is best. We chose a fish as our first attempt.
The best soap for carving is Ivory soap. It is soft, easy to carve, and doesn’t crumble like some soaps do.
There will be a lot of soap shavings when you are finished. Work outside over a plastic table cloth to make clean up easier. The shavings can still be used for hand washing if you place them inside a soap saver.

soap carving -- perfect camping craft