Veronika was a bit bored as I was cleaning the kitchen this morning, and I wanted an activity that could occupy her quickly. Luckily, a bar of soap and a microwave are all you need for some quick STEM exploration!

I placed a bar of soap on a paper plate and then popped it in the microwave. Veronika helped me set the timer for 2 minutes.

Stand back and watch it explode! Monitor closely, because you don’t want a messy microwave, but the soap will begin to bubble up and expand and do all kinds of exciting things. I’ve heard this activity described online using both Ivory Coast and Dial, but I don’t think it matters which brand you use.

We removed the bubbly soap from the microwave and then began some careful exploration. Within moments, it will be cool enough to explore safely, but still soft enough that it no longer resembles a hard bar of soap. I placed the soap in a craft tray with a shallow layer of water and Veronika loved stirring around the soap flakes.

Or mashing at the remaining cake of soap with craft sticks.

She even washed her hands! So you can definitely say this turned out to be good clean fun.