# Frozen Soapy Sculptures
> Freeze colored clear bubble bath in muffin, heart and ice-cube molds. Kids stack the fragrant soap cakes into towers and bridges, then smoosh them into a colorful sensory mush.
- URL: https://www.funlittles.com/frozen-soapy-sculptures-sensory-play/
- Ages: 3–6 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: high
- Time: prep 10 min, activity 30 min
- Works for: one-on-one, small group, whole class · one batch serves about 2 kids
- Skills: sensory-exploration, building, balancing, math, imaginative-play, colors, fine-motor
- Cautions: food-dye, ingestion-risk

## Materials (one batch)
- Clear bubble bath
- Food coloring
- 1 piece Regular muffin pan
- 1 piece 12-cavity heart pan (heart-shaped shortbread pan) (optional)
- Ice cube trays (optional) (household)
- Cups for mixing colors (household)
- Cupcake liners (optional)
- Glitter (optional)
- 1 piece Knife (adult use) (household)
- 1 piece Clear container or sensory bin (household)

## Substitutions
- Instead of muffin pan: Regular ice cube trays (The author used a mix of molds; ice trays make smaller blocks.)
- Instead of heart pan: Ice cube trays or any other small silicone molds

## Safety
- Soap stings eyes. Remind kids to keep soapy hands away from their faces, and rinse with water if soap gets in an eye.
- Not for mouthing: bubble bath is not taste-safe. Supervise closely, especially with younger kids who still put things in their mouths.
- Adult uses the knife to pop the frozen soap out of the pans.
- Frozen soap is very cold. Let kids take breaks and warm their hands.
- Fragranced bubble bath can bother sensitive skin. Have kids wash hands well with water after play.
- Food color can stain hands, clothes and surfaces.
- Glitter and small soap bits can get into eyes. Supervise at all times.

## Before you start
- Color the bubble bath, pour it into the molds and freeze it until solid. Do this well before play; the post doesn't say how long it takes to freeze.

## Steps
1. Pour clear bubble bath into individual cups, one cup per color.
2. Add food color to each cup and gently swirl until no big drops of color sit at the bottom.
3. Stir in some glitter if you like.
4. For ridged soap cakes, put cupcake liners into the muffin pan slots.
5. Pour the colored soap into the muffin pan, heart pan and ice trays.
6. Put the pans in the freezer until the soap is frozen solid.
7. Adult: let the pans sit out for 5 minutes, then use a knife to pop the frozen soap out.
8. Set the soap cakes out in a clear sensory bin. Smell them and feel them.
9. Stack the soap cakes into towers, bridges and sculptures.
10. Smoosh, crush and smear the soap until it turns into a colorful mush.

## Tips
- Be sure to buy clear soap, since you are going to mix colors.
- You can mix the colors right in the muffin pan, but it's harder to spread the color evenly that way. Cups work better.
- The heart molds turned out to be a great idea. The tiny soap hearts were perfect for playing.
- Adding glitter is optional but highly recommended.
- Inexpensive bubble bath goes a long way. A bottle under $3 made plenty of soap cakes.
- Let the kids lead. Ours smelled and felt the soap first, then naturally started building. Balancing the stacks brings in lots of science and math.

## The original post by TurkeyMom (2015)

### *Build sculptures with fragrant soap and then engage in glorious sensory play*

[Sensory play](https://www.funlittles.com/category/messy-play-2/) is still exciting around here - especially when they involve lots of bright [colors](https://www.funlittles.com/tag/colors/). To make an [invitation to play](https://www.funlittles.com/tag/play/) even more exciting just bump up the color factor and watch the kids pounce on that kids activity. Last time we played with soap was when we made our popular [sudsy goop recipe.](https://www.funlittles.com/sensory-activities-with-sudsy-goop/) This time we are doing something awesome with soap. Fun [building activity](https://www.funlittles.com/category/messy-play-2/) and a sensory play idea. Materials

- [Bubble Bath](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SVMHC0K/?tag=blmemo-20)
- [AmeriColor Food Color](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0029YDR82/?tag=blmemo-20)
- [12 Cavity Heart Pan](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0045Y12C2/?tag=blmemo-20)
- [Regular Muffin Pan](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003W0UMPI/?tag=blmemo-20)

I purchased my bubble bath from Wal-Mart for under $3 and got plenty of soap cakes.

### How to make frozen soap

- Simply pour your bubble bath soap in individual cups and add food color to it. Be sure to buy clear soap since you are going to mix colors.
- Gently swirl and mix the colors making sure there aren't any big drops of food color sitting at the bottom of the cups. You can also directly do the color mixing in the muffin pan. But getting the color evenly spread out that way is harder.
- Before pouring the colored soap you can also insert some of your cupcake liners inside the slots if you want to make soap cakes with ridges.
- We used a variety of molds - muffin pan, heart shaped short bread pan, regular ice trays.
- Adding glitter to the soapy mixture is optional but highly recommended.

 Once you pour the soapy mixture into the muffin pan, place it in the freezer. Once frozen getting the soap cakes out is not that hard. Just let the muffin pan sit out for 5 minutes and use a knife to pop off the frozen soap. 

### Make Frozen soap sculptures for kids

Those fragrant frozen soap is just begging to be played with, right? {We have done [ice sculptures](https://www.funlittles.com/ice-activities-colored-ice-blocks/) in the past }I set out all the soap in our sensory bin { which is a clear container basically}



First my 4 year was very eager to smell the soap cakes and spent some time feeling them.  She also was very excited to see the bright colors and pretending these were bug eyes and was cracking up so hard. I always adore watching the little kids' imagination take off during play.



Then she naturally started building. When we started this kids activity because of her sister's sudden interest in freezing all kinds of things I didn't know what they are going to do with the frozen soap. The 4 year old knew what she wanted to do with all those soap - build and make frozen soap sculptures.  She started stacking them up while making up stories.  Big sister also quickly jumped in and made this gorgeous frozen soap bridge  Those heart molds we used turned out to be a great idea since these tiny soap hearts were perfect for playing.



More stacking and building ensued  I loved that my 6 year old pointed out that these sculptures her sister was building looked very much like all the [cairns](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairn) we see during our hikes. We love to explore our local trails and we always see artistically stacked stones done so . There is so much science and math to it as well since balancing them is not that easy. 

### On to Frozen Soap Sensory Play

Before continuing be sure to read this lovely post on " Why sensory play is important" After building stacking soap towers, the 4 year decided to engage in sensory play.



She smooshed the frozen soap and started smearing the crushed remains. The soap cakes apparently are a lot of fun to be broken into pieces and smeared around.

 Once that's done plenty of times the frozen soap cakes turn into this beautiful mush. 

Thanks for reading

 

More super fun [sensory play ideas](https://www.funlittles.com/category/messy-play-2/)

Want a low-mess, dry sensory bin? We have got those [sensory bins](https://www.funlittles.com/category/sensory-bins/) as well

- Baby and toddler play ideas
- 3-5 play ideas
- Preschool Science and Math Activities