Make Quick and Easy Bath Salts
Topics: Preschool, Science, Arts and Crafts
As young children explore their environment, they begin to learn that items in their environment can be classified in many ways, such as into solids and liquids. This activity will allow your child to experiment with solids and liquids and introduce her to the concept of change in science.
Use the activity below to help your child create bath salts as she observes how a solid changes when placed in a liquid. These fragrant bath salts can be made to enjoy at home or package as a special gift for a friend!
What You Need:
- Epsom salt
- Food coloring
- Fragrance (you can use perfume or cologne samples or purchase fragrance oils from a craft store)
- Small jar (baby food jars work well)
- Plastic baggie
What You Do:
- Allow your child to examine the ingredients. Discuss characteristics of each item (is it a solid? Is it a liquid?). If your child isn’t familiar with Epsom salts, allow her to examine the Epsom salt carefully. Discuss her observations.
- Encourage your child to use her predicting skills to predict what she thinks will happen when the fragrance, food coloring, and salts are combined.
- Have your child fill a small jar with Epsom salt.
- Add one to two drops of food coloring and mix well.
- To complete this project, add perfume or cologne to the Epsom salt mixture until it has the desired scent.
- Pour one or two handfuls of the bath salts under warm running water to create a soothing, fragrant bath. Enjoy!
- To give as a gift, cut a colorful piece of fabric to cover the lid and tie the fabric onto the lid with a piece of ribbon.
Latrenda Knighten has spent 19 years teaching in a variety of elementary school classrooms, from kindergarten through fifth grade. For nine of those years, she taught kindergarten. She also served as an elementary school math and science specialist. She lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
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