Ever since I created the bath bomb recipe for our Hatching Dino Egg Bath Bombs, we've been addicted to bath bombs. They're just so much fun! Not to mention they are inexpensive and easy to put together - a total win in my book. :) With fall here, I thought I'd try my hand at making some scented pumpkin bath bombs. We love how they turned out!
Cute little pumpkins! Once they dry they are easily handled. Of course if you happen to drop one on the floor, all bets are off. Still fun in the bath, though, even if they get broken.
It's practically impossible to photograph bath bombs in action! I set this one in a shallow dish of water so you could get the idea. You can probably make out a few bubbles. It bubbles SUPER rapidly, so it's hard to catch them all. When you submerge them in a bath they send all the little bubbles up to the surface - so fun! The reaction is endothermic (it requires energy, so it absorbs heat from the surroundings), so the bath bomb itself gets very cold to the touch.
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Depending on the size of your pumpkin cookie cutter, this recipe may make slightly more or slightly less than 8 bath bombs.
You'll need:
A pumpkin cookie cutter (you could also shape them by hand if you want, but the cookie cutter makes it easy/fast)
Baking Soda (AKA Sodium Bicarb)
Cinnamon
Liquid watercolors or food coloring (optional)
Olive Oil
Add 1.5 cups of baking soda and 1 Tablespoon of cinnamon to a bowl and stir well. If you want to make green stems, set aside a small portion of the baking soda in another container. Add 3/4 teaspoon of liquid watercolors (or a few drops of food coloring added to 3/4 teaspoon water) and mix well by hand until all the color is evenly distributed (I added a much smaller amount of green to the bit of baking soda I set aside for the stems). Add 6 Tablespoons of Citric Acid Powder and mix until evenly distributed. Some of the Citric Acid Powder will react with the small amount of water you added to add color - the mix will be very cold to the touch. Don't worry, that's normal - and there's still plenty left to react when these hit the bathwater. Finally add 2 teaspoons of olive oil and mix well. You should now have a dry dough that holds together when squeezed. Pack the dough into the pumpkin cookie cutter and, applying pressure to the center and using a steady hand, remove the cookie cutter leaving the "dough" behind. Allow to dry for 1 hour or more. Then add to a bath (or a dish of water if you'd like to play with them outside of the bath)! The cinnamon smells awesome and is often added to baths to fight germs (which works well with fall, right?).
You can buy Citric Acid Powder online or you can find it in some grocery stores that have a bulk spices section. It's used as "sour salt" for candies and as a preservative in canning, so I always find it alongside spices.
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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.
Do you know if I could subsititute tartaric acid. I have a bunch left over from making lemonade this summer.
ReplyDeleteIt appears so, though I'm not sure if you'd do a direct substitution or not (but I think you can)... It does react with baking soda to create carbon dioxide gas, so I would give it a go. Let me know how it works!
DeleteHow many bath bombs does this recipe make?
ReplyDeleteIt will vary depending on the size of your cookie cutter - we used a small/medium sized cutter and got six bombs out of it. Hope that helps!
DeleteWondering: is the citric acid absolutely needed, or could it be optional? I'm rarely in town to do the shopping (my husband does it, when needed, on his way home from work) and don't normally keep it on hand.
ReplyDeleteThanks! This looks like so much fun!
Without it the bath bombs won't fizz. The fizzing is created when water and baking soda and citric acid powder all combine - so it wouldn't have any bubbles without it. There may be other bath bomb recipes that use a different reaction, I just don't know of any off hand. And for this recipe you'd need it. Hope that helps! :)
DeleteI love your ideas! And your name! ( which is how mine is pronounced! ) :) I also have a baby boy. :)
ReplyDeleteAwesome name!!!! ;) Thank you so much!
DeleteWe made these, but it happened to be Valentine's Day so we did pink hearts. They turned out great and the kids loved them.
ReplyDeleteDo you think you could add the glowing vitamin to the dry ingredients to make glowing bombs that turned the bath into glow water?
We are working our way through your amazing projects on this site and having such fun. Thank you!
YAY! Love it! And yep - you totally can. I meant to post that version at Halloween and just forgot, hahahaha. The bath bombs have glowing flecks, but the vitamin will dissolve with the bath bomb and make the glowing water.
DeleteThank you!!! :)
Great, we'll give it a go! (We were thinking bath bombs and a blacklight torch might be a cool gift!)
DeleteThanks again!
Ooooh! YES! I love that idea!!!
Deletewhich vitamin do you use for the glowing effect. These are really nice, would like to make some glowing ones for Halloween :-)
ReplyDeleteYou can find out all the details in this post: http://www.funathomewithkids.com/2013/08/safe-and-edible-glow-water-for-baths.html
DeleteThe vitamin is called different things by different brands. The one we used is Nature's Way B50 Complex, but you can find a vitamin with the right ingredients by almost any vitamin manufacturer. :)
Thank you so much for the info :)
DeleteIs liquid watercolor same as normal watercolor paint?
ReplyDeleteKind of...it's like concentrated washable paint pigment - you can read more about it here: http://www.funathomewithkids.com/2013/08/what-are-liquid-watercolors-and-why.html
DeleteI like your diy project so much.
ReplyDelete