Experimenting

My daughter decided she wanted to make her own scented hand soaps. She had no recipe, just her own imagination. She went around the house looking for small bottles to fill with her concoctions. She added toothpaste, mouthwash, shampoo, petroleum jelly--you get the idea.

She spent the day trying different combinations, writing her recipes and labelling the bottles. She was a little disappointed when I told her she could only use them on her hands (she wanted to shower with them).

Now, when my daughter first told me she wanted to make these hand soaps, my response was, "Let's look up some recipes on the Internet." But she didn't want to use a recipe; she wanted to create something of her own. It may seem wasteful that she used toothpaste and mouthwash, but it was worth it. It's not the product that matters, it's the process.

Some of her mixtures turned out better than others, and she experimented with the amount of different ingredients to include. She enjoyed making her own decisions and testing the results. At times, she was disappointed, but she also found satisfaction in creating something of her own.

Now she wants a chemistry set for her birthday.

Note: If your child wants to experiment, but you are concerned about wasting ingredients, measure them out for your child.