With Sam home from the NICU, one of the things we’re extra on top of now is hand washing. It’s the easiest way to keep germs at bay and help ensure our little preemie boy doesn’t come down with something during cold and flu season, which could be really awful for him. To make the constant hand washing a little more fun for Miss G, I’ve been switching up our soap every now and then by adding different essential oils to it, putting it in a bottle with a foaming pump, and once even adding a drop or two of pink colouring to it {you do what you gotta do, right?} Thankfully Grae’s really great about it all, even though I feel like I ask her to wash her hands about 100 times a day.
To keep the hand washing fun going, I thought we’d make some of our own soap this time around. I wanted something fun and different but really easy and that’s when I remembered seeing some YouTube tutorials on flubber soap a while back. None of the videos I’d watched included an actual recipe and I knew that I wanted ours to be more like a dough than actual slime or flubber, so this morning Miss G and I did some experimenting and came up with what I think could be the most awesome DIY squishy soap ever! Seriously though – it’s soooo cool. It turned out better than I imagined it would and after a full day of testing it out, I can honestly say that it works fabulously too {not to mention that it reminds me a lot of Lush’s ‘Fun’, the play dough soap / bubble combo aimed at kids, which we love}. It’s soft, squishy, and so much fun.
Here’s how we made it…
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First off, the main ingredients… Pure castile soap {in peppermint this time around}, sweet almond oil {though something like olive, avocado, or grapeseed would probably work well too}, and cornstarch. For colouring we decided to go with our beloved Sax liquid watercolours for their washability, but a small amount of liquid food colouring would probably work fine and soap colorant would obviously work well too.
Besides the ingredients all being things we keep in the house, what I love about this project is that it’s easy enough for Miss G to do herself, start to finish. First she measured out some cornstarch…
Then the oil…
Added the soap…
And then a few drops of liquid watercolour.
Then she just mixed everything up…
And kneaded it with her hands.
Isn’t the end result pretty?
And it’s fun too! Before using it to wash you can totally use it as a play dough first.
When it’s time to wash, simply pinch off a tiny piece…
Add some water…
And scrub! Of course rolling the full ball around in wet hands works too.
Because we just made our squishy soap, I’m not sure how it will last over time just yet, but we’ve kept the bulk of it in a little bowl for later use and a small amount right beside the sink to use now. We shall see! In the meantime, here’s our recipe if you want to give it a try…
DIY Squishy Soap
- 1/2 cup of cornstarch
- 1/8 cup of pure liquid castile soap {or other liquid soap or body wash of the same consistency}
- 4 teaspoons of sweet almond oil
- liquid watercolours for colouring
Measure the ingredients into a small bowl and mix with a spoon. Dump the contents out onto a clean surface and knead until the soap is smooth and no longer sticky. Enjoy!
Please note: If using a more concentrated colouring (such as food dye) instead of liquid watercolours, you may have to add some extra castile soap to bring the dough together.
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This is so awesome! We made it first thing this morning. It couldn’t have come at a better time. We just made our daughter an outdoor play sink. Until it warms up today, we’re playing in the kitchen sink.
Oh, I’m so glad you guys enjoyed the project, Marnie!
Jen, you are so amazing! Never skipping a creative beat, and turning the imperative into fun! Happy clean hands!
You’re too kind, Pat. Thank you!
How long do you think it will look stay squishy if you leave it out on the sink/counter?
It’s tough to say because it depends on how wet it’s left / it gets, Lindsey. We had ours out for a couple of weeks and if it’s not left in a pool of water, it definitely dries out just a little on the outer surface {but can be re-worked into a pretty decently malleable dough with some kneading}. If left in a pool of water, it definitely gets a bit soggy, but not unusable.
Hmm… that didn’t go so well! I wonder if something went wrong with the measuring, because it turned out way too dry and I had to add a lot more oil! We had crumbs everywhere (very clean crumbs!). We used olive oil, because that was all I had. On the bright side however, I guess extra oil is good for dry skin :-). We certainly has fun, and the kids have new motivation to wash their hands well: using their OWN soap! Thanks!
Hey Talitha! Did you use castile soap like we did, or a different type of liquid soap? I imagine that with soap / oil swaps, the amounts may need to be adjusted a bit.
What other oils give verifiable results? Has anyone specifically tried any of the others? We have a tree nut allergy in the house.
Talitha above did try olive oil, but had to add a significant amount more. I myself have not tried any others yet… Let us know if you do, Jenn!
Love this! Such a great idea. Is there a substitute for corn starch that might work just as well? Love the light in your photos too :-)
Hmmmm… That’s a tough one! I don’t know that there is a substitute that will give the same texture, unfortunately. Please let us know if you find something though!
What about Arrowroot powder?
Mine also ended up too dry. I am in the midst of making it right now and will have to add more soap and oil to get it to the right texture. I used jojoba oil instead of almond due to nut allergy. Please look at your measurements and see if there is a typo.
Hi Elsa! Nope, no typo! The amounts above are exactly what we used. :) That being said, with any recipe swap, you sometimes do need to make adjustments. I hope you found measurements that worked for you!
Mine started out too dry, but I kneaded and kneaded and it came together! I used whatever light cooking oil I had on hand, possibly soy.
Glad to hear that! I wouldn’t have thought to use soy!
Mine was also VERY dry and crumbly. We had to add soap and oil.
I’m glad you guys got it figured out, Brit!
Jen do you think but switching up the Castile soap with a natural body wash you can make it usable in the tub?
This worked great and was a ton of fun for everyone! We did need to play around with the oil and soap volumes in order to obtain the play dough consistency. This could be due to the kids measuring out the cornstarch :)
Glad to hear that you guys enjoyed the project, Jessica!!
What is the coloring you use? Do you just use food coloring?
We used liquid watercolours, Desiree. :)
I was going to do this with my school children but my employer ordered us bars or castile soap instead of the liquid. I am debating if I should just bring in some liquid soap from home or if I should try shaving and melting the bars of soap.
Hmmm… That certainly would be an interesting experiment, Elizabeth! Let us know how it went if you tried it!
I wish I would have read the comments before attempting this there is definitely something wrong the the ingredient amounts as they are posted. Ours was way too dry so I tried adding more oil and soap but it never got to the Playdoh consistency we just wasted a bunch of ingredients and had a huge mess of cornstarch :(
I’m sorry to hear that, Laura. We’ve made another batch since using this exact recipe and it turned out perfectly for us, so nothing wrong with the ingredient amounts as posted. I hope you guys at least had fun getting messy!
Thank you for posting this! I found bath dough soap a long time ago when my older child wash little. Since then I have been searching high and low for a play dough like soap recipe that didn’t use store bought soap! Do you think adding another surficant to boost the sudsing action would change the constancy of the dough?
Hmmm…. I’m guessing it would, Poet. What are you thinking of adding?
I was thinking Cocabeatine (spelling?) Sodium cocoaite or sodium laureth sulfoacitate or SLES same thing (This is not a sulfate as I am trying to move my home away from sulfates and is not good for the body)
I was thinking of using SLSa and coca beatine and coca gucoside as my secondary or co surfactants.
How do you store this so it does not dry out?
We just made this! We had to play a little with the amounts since we used olive oil instead but it turned out fantastic!
Yay! So glad to hear hat, Katrina! :)
You are patient with the complainers. ;) Your measurements are fine. I made 4 batches, 2 following your ingredients and they came out perfectly. The other 2 I subbed different oils and had to fiddle measurements to get the right texture, but that’s to be expected when you CHANGE THE INGREDIENTS. Also added vitamin e oil and some essential oils for smell. Kids had a blast making, thanks for sharing!
Hah!!! You’re SO lovely! I think when you play around with recipes regularly like I do, you learn that adjustments usually need to be made when swapping ingredients. I usually don’t think it’s a big deal – if whatever it is is too dry, I add more wet (and the opposite), but some people have less patience for that kind of stuff I’m guessing. Thanks so much for commenting and I’m glad you guys had fun! Adding essential oils is a brilliant idea! :)
How many “balls” does this recipe yield? Thinking of trying with a Girl Scout troop but need to plan out supplies :). Thanks!
Hey Beth! What you see in the photos is four separate batches, one for each colour. I’d recommend doing the recipe as is for each girl scout or for two girl scouts partnered up. :) Hope they love it!
I just made this squishy soap with 47 kids from preschool to 5th grade at a church event. It was crazy and messy, but the kids really liked it. Thank you for the great idea! I couldn’t find sweet almond oil, so I used olive oil. Due to this I decreased the cornstarch to 1/3 cup, and if it was too soupy had them add more to get the right consistency. I used soap die and the colors weren’t anywhere as pretty as yours, but it was a hit regardless. Thanks again!
Thanks for the great idea . I used olive oil and kids body wash/ shampoo I need to add some extra essence to remove the strong olive oil smell but once I did it looks great.
I’d say if you use the exact ingredients listed here it might turn out fine, but we tried w/ two different oils in 2 different batches & it was way too dry. We never did figure out a good fix or consistency, but as mentioned before, we really did have fun w/ it! It was a bummer that it didn’t work, but that’s also an important lesson for kiddos too- not every recipe is going to turn out the same or what we create might not look like pictures in a book or online. Incidently, we also tried another recipe we found on a popular mom’s Youtube channel & that didn’t turn out either & we used the exact ingredients for that one. So who knows! The point is for kids to experiment & create! And most importantly, have fun!! Thank you!
We made this soap, lots of fun. We also had to add more liquids. My issue is, the coloring (we used food color) is now bleeding all over the place, my kids splash when they wash. Any suggestions?
I modified the amounts of the ingredients to get more and it went well. I used olive oil, coconut oil, mint oil, and shampoo with a cup of cornstarch. Really appreciate the tips. Thanks
I just made this and added 1/2 tsp poly because I used Mica powder to color it and it turned out fine! I am going to add 1/8 tsp of SLSA for more bubbles! I also used Grape Seed oil.
I am really excited to make this for my toddler. Rather than using liquid watercolors would I be able to use food coloring?
Maybe I am just not seeing it BUT how much does this recipe make?
Each of the coloured balls you see in the pics is one batch. :D
I just got back from London and discovered this soap in the Lush store on Oxford Street. I bought two of them for my 4 year old and she is OBSESSED! Only issue…it’s far too expensive back home here in Norway to justify buying more of it after we run out. Booo! So I’m very excited about this tutorial, thanks!
I’m going to follow the recipe exactly…but do you think the same amount of finger paint instead of liquid water color would work? I’d like to avoid food color because of the risk of it staining. Thanks!
Hi is there a cheaper substitute for Castile soap anyone has used?
Dawn dish soap works just fine, and it comes all ready colored.
I used Dawn dish soap and coconut oil. I had to up the soap amount a little but it turned out good and it was all ready colored. Which is good since I am doing this in a school setting so the less bottles that we have to deal with the better. Thank you for the recipe. :)
How long does the soap keep?