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STEAM Learning Lab – Bath Bomb

November 18, 2020

Bath Bombs
Ages 4 and up. Always check for allergies before using any products on your skin!

These bath bombs may look luxurious but are secretly a great chemistry experiment. Perfect for cold winter days, these bath bombs rely on the interaction between baking soda and lemon juice to make them fizz in your tub.

This activity is also a good opportunity to talk about chemical reactions with our skin. For example, baking soda and citrus juice feel fine on our skin but would not feel nice in our eyes. Coconut oil and Epsom Salt are bath bomb ingredients that can be beneficial to our skin. Some essential oils can smell nice and ingredients like peppermint or eucalyptus oil might make us feel better when we have colds. While lots of chemistry may require us to wear safety equipment, even simple activities can actually be an opportunity to become scientists because science is everywhere, and everyone can be a scientist!

Materials:

  • Toilet paper tube, cut into 4 parts or empty plastic easter egg
  • 1 cup baking soda
  • 1/8 cup lemon juice
  • ½ cup cornstarch
  • ½ cup Epsom Salts
  • 2 ½ tbsp coconut oil
  • 1 tsp water
  • Optional: Cinnamon, pumpkin spice, orange or lemon zest
  • Optional: Essential oils

Directions:

  1. Mix all dry ingredients together in mixing bowl, except any optional add-ins(like scented oils)
  2. Melt coconut oil in the microwave (about 10 – 20 seconds)
  3. Add wet ingredients-the mixture might get a little fizzy because of the chemical reaction between the lemon juice and the baking soda. Stir quickly to make it less bubbly
  4. Stir in any extras-essential oils, cinnamon, or citrus zest. When using essential oils topically around kids, check and make sure you are using an amount that is safe!
  5. Press in molds (either the Toilet paper tube or egg) let it sit for 30 minutes and then gently remove (tear off the paper tube)
  6. Let the shaped bath bomb sit on parchment paper or a regular piece of paper overnight, then it is ready to go!
  7. Store extra bath bombs in a closed container

More Fun:

  • Check out this article about frogs and their skin.