Hand soap is a friendly first craft to make with kids. A goat's milk melt and pour base means there is no lye to mix and no long cure to wait out, so children can choose a scent, help pour, and turn out their own bars the same afternoon. An adult cubes and melts the base, then pours it into fun-shaped molds while the kids pick the scent and shapes and pop the cooled bars out.
A quick note on the word soap. The FDA reserves the word soap for products whose cleaning comes from the alkali salts of fatty acids, the material formed when fats or oils combine with an alkali such as lye; most melt and pour bases are detergent-based and are regulated as cosmetics[1]. For a craft at home that distinction mostly affects how you label anything you give away or sell.
What You'll Need
The supply list is short and forgiving. The only items to buy with care are a skin-safe fragrance oil and a base gentle enough for hands kids wash often.
What You'll Need
Check items off as you gather them
Supplies
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Goat's Milk Melt & Pour Soap Base a moisturizing melt & pour soap base that's gentle on sensitive skin
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A Fun-Shaped Silicone Mold hearts, stars, animals, or any kid-friendly shape; any food-grade silicone molds releases cleanly
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A Skin-Safe Fragrance Oil any of our fragrance oils rated for soap; pick a low-vanillin scent so the bars stay pale for coloring
Tools & Equipment
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Digital Scale weigh both the base and the fragrance oil so the load lands right batch to batch; any of our digital scale reads finely enough
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Microwave-Safe Container to melt the base; a stovetop pot works too
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Cutting Board and Knife or a soap cutter, to cube the base (adult job)
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Stirring Utensil a spatula, whisk, or spoon to blend in the fragrance
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Rubbing Alcohol in a spray bottle, to pop surface bubbles after pouring[3]
Skip ahead to the step-by-step guide
Making Hand Soap with Kids
Soap making gives kids a hands-on reason to think about clean hands. Washing with soap and water is one of the best ways to remove germs and stay healthy[2], and a bar they made themselves tends to get used. Split the work by age so everyone has a job and the hot steps stay with an adult.
Who Does What
Pick the Scent and Shapes
A good first job for any age. Let kids choose a skin-safe fragrance and a silicone mold they like. A low-vanillin scent keeps the bars pale if they want to color them.
Adult Handles the Heat
Cubing the base and melting it are adult jobs, since the melted base is hot enough to burn. Keep kids back from the microwave and the hot container.
Kids Pour and Finish
With supervision, older kids can stir, pour slowly into the mold, and mist the surface with rubbing alcohol to clear bubbles. Popping the cooled bars out is the favorite part.
No-Heat Jobs for Little Ones
Younger children stay clear of the hot soap and take the safe steps: choosing the scent and the molds, helping unmold the bars once they have set firm, and lining them up to cure.
How to Make the Soap
This is the melted-base method, the same one in the video. Weigh as you go so the batch matches your mold and the fragrance load lands where you want it.
How to Make Melt & Pour Hand Soap
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1
Cube the base
An adult cuts the base into roughly half-inch cubes. Smaller cubes melt faster and more evenly than large chunks. A small six-cavity mold holds about 3 ounces per cavity, so weigh out enough base to fill the shapes you chose.
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2
Weigh the base
Tare a microwave-safe container on the scale and add cubes until you reach your target weight. Weighing as you cut keeps you from chopping more than the mold needs.
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3
Melt in 30-second bursts
Microwave the cubes in 30-second bursts, stirring between each, until the base is fully liquid with no chunks. Keep the bursts short, since overheating can scorch the base. A stovetop pot on low heat works the same way.
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4
Add skin-safe fragrance
Once the base is liquid, weigh in a skin-safe fragrance oil at about 6% of the soap weight, which is roughly one ounce per pound. For 20 ounces of base that is about 1.2 ounces of oil. It is safe to add fragrance to the warm base; just keep the oil away from open flames.
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5
Stir until uniform
Stir with a spatula until no fragrance oil separates out on the surface. Stir gently so you do not whip in air bubbles, and keep skin clear of the hot soap.
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6
Pour the mold
Mist the silicone mold with rubbing alcohol, then pour the soap slowly into each cavity. Pouring slowly keeps splashing and trapped air down.
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7
Mist away the bubbles
Spray the poured surface lightly with rubbing alcohol. The alcohol breaks the surface tension and evaporates quickly, so the bubbles clear within seconds[3].
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8
Let the bars set, then unmold
Leave the bars to solidify a few hours until firm to the touch and cool at the bottom. Flex the mold to release the sides, then pop them out.
Where to Take It Next
Once the bars are out of the mold, the same method opens up a lot of projects. For the full filmed walkthrough of the melted-base bar, watch our How to Make Melt & Pour Hand Soap. Our Melt & Pour Soap Recipes collects more melt and pour ideas to make together, How to Make Shaving Soap steps up to a clay-and-butter bar for older crafters, and soap making supplies carries the bases, molds, and additives a growing soap shelf runs on. Browse the rest of the Learning Center for more no-lye projects.