Soap Dough is hand-crafted through a small-batch cold process method using a formulation of oils designed to stay softer than most soap bars. The only real difference between bar soap and soap dough is the evaporation of water. A typical hand-crafted bar is cured for 4-6 weeks in a well-ventilated space. By contrast, soap dough is double wrapped in a “Press N’ Seal” type of wrap within 24 hours and then kept in an airtight container to prevent the typcial curing process.
The packaging of your soap dough is designed to be re-used, but if your packaging wears out or tears, you can use cling wrap and a zip-lock baggie or airtight container.
The texture is similar to Play Doh and will harden eventually in a similar way if set outside of an air-tight container. However, when it hardents, it becomes a regular bar of soap!
This soap is great for crafting or sensory play. When finished with soap dough, simply rinse hands under water, and you have clean hands!
To prevent the soap from sticking to surfaces or skin, dust with cornstarch or arrowroot powder The good news is that even it it sticks to a surface, it is just soap, so it will be gentle and beneficial to wash off of most surfaces.
As a child play therapist, I have created an anti-anxiety therapeutic lesson to go along with Soap Dough below that can be modified for a wide range of age groups.
INGREDIENTS: saponified oils of organic palm, coconut, castor, & almond.
Worry Wash Activity
Using the following book for Bibliotherapy:
Ash’s Handwashing Adventure by Omisa Shah
This book was written and illustrated in 2023 by high school student freshmen, Omisa Shah as part of a STEM Education & Career Development Project by the Carnegie Science Center.
While many books about handwashing, promote the use of soap as a hygiene habit, Ash’s Handwashing Adventure explains the science behind soap’s powers with simple and colorful illustrations that easy for a young child to follow. I believe that explaining how soap works is critical to getting children to buy into the habit, but even more exciting is how it can be used to address all types of anxiety, not just fears of germs.
Her book tells the story about how Ash, a cute but obstinate kitten who refuses to wash her hands while her other kitten classmates comply with their teacher. Ash’s teacher takes the whole class on a molecular journey to witness the epic battle between a germ molecule and a surfactant soap molecule.
When they return to class safely and in their original size, Ash decides that she will now use soap to wash her hands.
Description of the Activity
Soap has been used for thousands of years to protect us from all kinds of diseases, and in spite of the countless medical breakthroughs, proper use of soap continues to be one of the most powerful ways to protect us from germs. While we can only guess how soap was first discovered, a microscope depicts an epic and molecular battle. Instead of killing germs, like alcohol or other anti-bacterial agents, soap simply renders germs powerless as the germs slip off our skin and down the drain.
There are several ways to modify this activity for age, setting and use with or without parents. Using the literal superpower of soap, a clinician or parent may use the metaphor of soap to wash away anxieties. The use of Soap Dough is another element that can add another extension of this metaphor.
Treatment Goals:
- Child Goal: To improve hygiene.
- Goal for Clinician and Child: Develop a working relationship between the child and the therapist in which the client openly shares thoughts and feelings.
- Goal for Caregiver: Increase parent-child attachment encouraging the child to openly share thoughts and feelings.
- Child Goal: Improve expressive language by verbally identify fears, worries, and anxieties.
- Child Goal: Develop and implement appropriate relaxation activities to decrease the level of anxiety.
- Child Goal: Reduce overall anxiety through increased sense of power over stressors.
- Child Goal: Develop coping strategies utilizing sensory experiences for reducing anxiety symptoms.
- Goal for Caregiver and/or Clinician: Identify areas of conflict in the child’s life.
- Goal for Parent: Develop specific ways to empathically help the child with the anxiety and fear.
Materials:
· Bar of soap & sink
o A large Eraser can be used to represent soap if you do not have a sink and water to use
· Dry Erase surface (most laminated sheets or shiny paper can be used if dry erase is not available). If using a bathroom, a mirror can also be used.
· Dry Erase Marker(s)
· Water or sink (to wash off any soap remaining when finished)
· Book: Ash's Handwashing Adventure by Omisa Shah
Notes: If using a soap bar, be mindful of its scent and the child’s sensitivities. A scented bar may be pleasing and/or relaxing to a child and could enhance the power of the activity. It may also be irritating or aggravating to the child’s senses. Consult with parent and child before activity. It may also be recommended to have several soap bars for the child to choose from that they find the most comforting (including an unscented option).
In session:
1. Using the metaphor of soap and bathing in therapy session, ask the child to identify their worries on the dry erase surface.
2. Read Ash's Handwashing Adventure by Omisa Shah and identify the ways that the power of soap from the story and check for the child’s understanding of the concepts. In addition, draw the connection with how soap is an overlooked and seemingly mundane item that has a secret superpower. This can be used to help the child also identify their own secret superpowers and coping skills.
3. Once the child is ready, ask them if they can imagine what their life would be like if they could just wash their worries away.
4. Brainstorm some strategies to address each worry.
5. Invite them to use the soap or the eraser to make the worries disappear by erasing them or washing their hands.
Parent Follow Up
If the child is of age to still need parent’s involvement during bathing, this can be a powerful activity to reinforce the therapy session. The instructions below are for the young child. See the notation for ways to modify the activity for older children or teenagers.
Preparation: Some special soap such as a bubble bath, bath bombs (especially colorful ones), or a new bar of soap. Make sure these are special items only used for this “Worry Wash.”
1. While preparing the child’s bath review the counseling session regarding Worry Wash, encouraging the child to identify her worries.
2. Tell the child that you’re preparing a special bath where she can wash her body and at the same time all of her worries with the dirt and let them wash down the drain.
3. Encourage the child to be playful and fun identifying their worries, then washing them away, paying attention to the smells and senses during this special bath. This is where a bath bomb, bubble bath or soap dough helps.
4. As the bath comes to a close, identify ways you as a parent have made your worries wash away (ex, deep breathes, going for a walk, reading a book…).
5. Try to end the bath with a calm, peaceful energy. Consider a repeating a calm mantra to provide closure to the activity such as the water empties down the drain. Repeating these as you apply lotion can further reinforce the comforting, nurturing, safe emotions. Be mindful of sensory issues related to lotion for the child and consider lotions that have a scent they like:
· All of my stress has slippery slid down the drain.
· I’m slippery like soap. No stress or germs can stick to me.
· I am happy, peaceful and free.
· Goodbye worries (waving as the water slips down the drain)
Modification for older children or those who do not need assistance bathing:
The same activity could be done with hand or foot washing as a modified manicure or pedicure. Another alternative for older children would be to use this as you engage in a soap craft together. Parents could use glitter, paint or even dirt as a metaphor for “germs” or worries that will be washed away with real soap.
Soap Dough Extension Activity
Using the strategies above, soap dough can be used to further extend the metaphor. Soap dough is the same texture as playdoh, but once it dries out, it is a hard bar of soap. A child may mold the soap dough as a relaxation exercise. They may also be asked to mold the soap into the shape to represent a worry.
Explain to the child that the soap will take 2-3 days to fully harden into its soap form. Explain to the child that worries can take time to form too, and sometimes worries can be shaped into something positive. The child could also mold their soap dough into the shape of a soap molecule and act out the battle between a soap molecule and a germ.
Ask the child to imagine what he would like the worry to become instead. Remind them, they have plenty of time to change its shape. Invite the child to mold the soap dough into something they wants instead. Remind them that they can take their time molding it since it takes several days to harden in the open air.
Once it dries, it can be set aside for using for his special Worry Wash time.
Other Resources:
The following youtube videos provide education on soap’s magical abilities to keep us safe:
How Do Soap and Water Make Us Clean? By Chemistry for Kids on Youtube
A followup experiment instructions can be found
How Does Soap Work? By COLOSSAL QUESTIONS on Youtube