My awesome friend Ali shared a photo of her daughter playing with these amazing Hatching Egg Fizzing Dinosaur Bath Bombs
the other day on Facebook. As soon as I saw them, I knew we had to create a DIY recipe for them - Fizzing? Dinosaurs? Bath Bombs? What's not to love, right?
the other day on Facebook. As soon as I saw them, I knew we had to create a DIY recipe for them - Fizzing? Dinosaurs? Bath Bombs? What's not to love, right?
Luckily we have a whole entire army of teeny dinosaurs that play in most (OK, probably all) of our small worlds. We love this set and highly recommend it - I honestly can't think of a day that these little guys haven't been played with.
And, as is our penchant around here...we had to make a set of RAINBOW eggs. :)
S was SOOO excited. She took some of her "grown up" dinosaurs and matched them with their eggs.
Now these are totally fabulous bath bombs, but the lighting is terrible in our bathroom, so we decided to put them in a shallow tray of water to play with them. S totally thought it was magical that we just added water - not vinegar - to make the eggs start erupting and hatching!
A close-up of a hatching egg. It was really SO much cooler than this photo conveys...so there's a video at the end of the post. :)
He's almost hatched!
S had the best time with these. Because the chemical reaction here is endothermic, the eggs feel quite cold to the touch. We chatted about this and I had her recall her experience with the opposite type of chemical reaction - an exothermic reaction - with Elephant Toothpaste. She still remembers the foam from our Elephant Toothpaste experiment was warm to the touch, so it was a fun way to bring a little chemistry into the activity.
Are you ready to make your own?
You will need:
Baking Soda
Oil (we used olive oil)
Food Coloring/Liquid Watercolors (we used Liquid Watercolors)
Add 1/2 cup baking soda to a small dish/container and add about 1/4 tsp Liquid Watercolors (if you don't have liquid watercolors, add 1-2 drops food coloring to 1/4 tsp water), using your fingers (or your kiddo's fingers) break up and spread the coloring throughout the baking soda until it is uniformly colored. Next add at least 1 Tbsp of citric acid. We used 1 Tbsp of Citric Acid and were happy with the amount of fizzing for the cost, but some of you have since reported trouble with forming the bombs. I reworked the recipe and found that adding just 1 additional Tbsp of citric acid will make the dough much, well, doughier! It should be a ton easier to mold if that was causing you any trouble. And it's fizzier! Mix the citric acid throughout your colored baking soda. You may see a small amount of fizzing and/or feel the mixture getting cold - this is because citric acid, water, and baking soda will react together and there is a small amount of water in the colored baking soda. Next add 1 tsp of oil (we used olive oil) to the mixture and mix well.
and were happy with the amount of fizzing for the cost, but some of you have since reported trouble with forming the bombs. I reworked the recipe and found that adding just 1 additional Tbsp of citric acid will make the dough much, well, doughier! It should be a ton easier to mold if that was causing you any trouble. And it's fizzier! Mix the citric acid throughout your colored baking soda. You may see a small amount of fizzing and/or feel the mixture getting cold - this is because citric acid, water, and baking soda will react together and there is a small amount of water in the colored baking soda. Next add 1 tsp of oil (we used olive oil) to the mixture and mix well.
You should have a dry and crumbly dough that just barely sticks together if you smoosh it. If it is not sticking together under pressure, slowly add more oil 1/4 tsp at a time. You do not want a wet dough - it should be very crumbly and dry. Take your small dinosaur and press handfuls of the crumbly mixture onto the dinosaurs body such that you create an egg shape around the dinosaur. Though the egg will be crumbly and fragile when you finish it, by the time it has dried overnight, it will be pretty solid. Just set it somewhere where it is unlikely to be disturbed while it dries. Do leave yourself at least 10 hours for the egg to harden. I like to make them the night beforehand so they are ready the next morning. Once the eggs have hardened - all you need to do is add water!
A few final notes: I was able to find citric acid in the bulk section of our grocery store. It's used in canning foods, so if you don't want to buy some online, the bulk section of your grocery store is where I'd recommend looking for it. We had no issues with staining in our tub, but of course I cannot guarantee anything. If you are very concerned about potential staining, I would recommend omitting the color and making white eggs. And finally, because the recipe contains oil, if you are using these as bath bombs, your tub may be slightly more slippery than usual. Please always monitor your children in baths and stay within arms reach! :)
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All activities here are activities I feel are safe for my own children. As your child's parents/guardians, you will need to decide what you feel is safe for your family. I always encourage contacting your child's pediatrician for guidance if you are not sure about the safety/age appropriateness of an activity. All activities on this blog are intended to be performed with adult supervision. Appropriate and reasonable caution should be used when activities call for the use of materials that could potentially be harmful, such as scissors, or items that could present a choking risk (small items), or a drowning risk (water activities), and with introducing a new food/ingredient to a child (allergies). Observe caution and safety at all times. The author and blog disclaim liability for any damage, mishap, or injury that may occur from engaging in any of these activities on this blog.
Hi I'm working on these now, and I can't get the mixture to stick together. I've added more that 2 tsp of oil now, and no luck. I used 1/2 cup of baking soda, and the 1/2 tsp of colour, and almost 2 tbsp. of the citric acid. Can I just continue to add oil?
ReplyDeleteHi Sara! Hmm, yes, I'd say slowly add more oil. It will be very dry and crumbly when it's ready, but if you squeeze some of it in a fist, it should hold. I hope that makes sense!!!
DeleteIs the recipe for one egg or can you get more than one out of your amounts?
ReplyDeleteIt will depend on the size of your toys, but yes, roughly one egg - our dinos have LONG tails, hahaha!
DeleteI wonder if you could use essential oils to add an aromatherapy experience too. What do you think about substituting essential oil for olive oil?
ReplyDeleteProbably so - but I know that you need to be careful with amounts of essential oils - so as long as you had input from your child's healthcare provider and the amount required in the recipe wouldn't be too much of whatever essential oil - that would totally work! Just so long as it's not a water based thing - an oil won't cause the reaction between baking soda and citric acid.
DeleteI guess the citric acid is safe for a taste test, since it's a food additive anyway?
ReplyDeleteYep, it's used as a coating on sour gummy candies and the like. It doesn't taste great though!
DeleteCan you actually take a bath with the eggs or should you just play with them with your hands and not let the rest of your body come in contact with them?
ReplyDeleteYou can actually bathe with them! Every ingredient is intended to be safe - and is the same as the ingredients in store-bought bath bombs. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Asia, I too could not get the mix to stick together and added oil in minimal amounts until it became oily and did not react with the water. A great idea though to add Citric acid and I worked out a sort of a recipe for my son's birthday party (details on www.acraftycat.blogspot.com.au) and referred to your site. Was fun trying and the kids thought it was amazing. The citric acid made the water literally boil! Thank you for the inspiration
ReplyDeleteCarol
What an adorable party! I'm so sorry it was giving you trouble - I recently reworked the recipe for the book and made it easier - so I will go and update this post right now with the easier version (it sticks together much better than the first!). Glad that you were still able to enjoy the citric acid!!!! :)
DeleteHi there! I was wondering if I am able to make these 2-3 weeks in advance for my daughter's upcoming dinosaur party? Do they have a shelf life? Thanks :)
ReplyDeleteNot to my knowledge, they don't. Though I suppose if it were very moist/humid where you are it could affect them. We've waited a week or so to use ours before with no trouble, so I wouldn't anticipate any difficulties, but I haven't tried waiting that long myself, so I can't be 100% sure.
DeleteHave you tried layering the colors? I did a pink center with blue on the outside and a blue center with pink on the outside. It was a nice surprise :). Unfortunately these were the last ones I added to the bin and the water was pretty murky at that point, so didn't get beautiful pics.
ReplyDeleteI have never been that patient, but I bet it was AWESOME! We love the giant store-bought bath bombs that have all the different layers, so I know how cool it must have been!
DeleteIf you don't have citric acid can you just use lemon juice or something instead?
ReplyDeleteKool Aid (which may stain). But lemon juice would react with the baking soda immediately so your bath bombs would erupt as you were trying to make them...
DeleteWhy do you not include the citric acid in the list of ingredients you will need? Grandson was disappointed to get home with all the ingredients on the list only to find he needed me to take him back to the store for this item.
ReplyDeleteI'm not following? Citric Acid is listed 4th in the named 5 ingredients and it's also prominently listed in the directions alongside the needed amount?
Delete