Mother's Day Gifts

The classroom is humming with activity of Mother's Day preparations!  (If you are a mother of one my students and want your gift to remain a surprise, please do not read this post!)



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All of the children have made their mom handmade soap to give on Mother's Day this year.  I remember reading about it at My Montessori Journey last year and ever since then, I wanted to try making soap with the children in my class.  It was surprising to learn how simple and fast this scent-filled project turned out to be!

I bought all of the necessary materials at the craft store, and I'm sure they are readily available in most places if you were interested in trying it out:

2lb. brick of glycerin soap.

Soap molds - floral motif and hearts.



Left dish:  Scents (lavender and vanilla);  Right dish:  Soap colors (purple, orange, red).

The process was so easy and fast.  All we did for each child was melt an individual sized brick in a measuring cup in the microwave for about 30 seconds.  Then the child chose which mold to use and poured the liquid into the shape.  Next, a scent was chosen and the child squeezed a few drops of it into the liquid.  Lastly, the child chose a color to add to the soap and stirred it with a toothpick.  The liquids solidified very quickly (within minutes) at which point the soap was removed from the mold to continue drying.  Here is the process in photos:

Pouring the melted liquid into the mold.

Squeezing the scent into the soap.

Mixing the color.

Simple and beautiful!

 

                                

                                         We placed them in small, organza bags for presentation.



The children will also be making personalized note cards to attach to the bags - more on that to come! 

In addition to making these adorable soaps, the children will also be baking muffins and preparing fruit skewers to serve during our annual 'Muffins for Moms' event.  I wanted to be sure the gifts were finished before we move on to the baking and food preparation...  I will post about that later too!