Sunday craft: Help your child make a bath bomb

Making bath bombs is a great indoor activity to keep kids occupied on a Sunday afternoon, and they also make thrifty gifts for loved ones.

Encourage your child to experiment with colours and shapes and even add flowers or herbs from the garden. Once you have the main ingredients, adapting this recipe to what you already have is extremely simple.

These ingredients are safe for bath use, but remind your child that bath bombs are not edible even though they smell delicious!

What you need

• 100g Bicarbonate of soda
• 50g Citric acid (available online and in some larger pharmacies)
• 25g Cornflour
• 25g Epsom salt (optional)
• 2 Tbsp oil (sunflower, coconut or olive oil)
• ¼ Tsp essential oil (orange, lemon, mint, strawberry, lavender or chamomile)
• A few drops of liquid food colouring
• Orange peel, lavender, mint leaves, lemon peel, basil, lemongrass, or rose petals to decorate (optional)
• Mixing bowl
• Whisk
• Plastic moulds
• Latex gloves

Method

1. First, ensure your child is wearing latex gloves for this activity, as the citric acid may sting if it gets into cuts or scratches.
2. Whisk the bicarbonate of soda, citric acid, cornstarch, and Epsom salt in a bowl.
3. Combine the base oil, essential oil, and food colouring in a small bowl. Mix thoroughly.
4. Slowly add the oil mixture to the dry ingredients, whisking between each addition. After adding all the oil, add a few drops of water and whisk again (it will fizz when you add the water, so mix it in quickly). You want the mixture to clump slightly together and retain its shape when pressed in your hand; it should not be too wet.
5. Help your child place peel or flower petals in the bottom of their chosen mould. Pack the mixture tightly on top with a teaspoon, pressing down and smoothing the surface.
6. If you have multiple colours, why not help your child create a rainbow bath bomb? Stack the various hues, and they will blend together beautifully.
7. Allow the bath bomb to dry for two to four hours, then carefully remove it from the mould. Your child will love watching it fizz during bathtime.

Top tips

• Use liquid food colouring instead of gels. Gels will clump together when added to bicarbonate, making it difficult to incorporate them.
• To dry your bath bombs, place them uncovered in a cool, dry location (away from taps and humidity). They will set more slowly in humid conditions.
• If you don’t have moulds, yoghurt pots, silicone ice cube trays, or silicone cupcake trays work just as well.