Kids love to compare and contrast things, and it’s one of the basic principles of the scientific method. Here at Kids Activities Blog, we have loved the erupting microwave soap experiment.  And now we are taking the fun a bit further with some analyzing of how different soaps react to being microwaved. compare and contrast microwave soap experiment for kids is lots of fun

Compare and Contrast Soap Experiment

Materials:
  • Ivory Soap
  • Dial Soap
  • Paper Towels
  • Microwave
  • Adult Supervision
Take the  Ivory and the Dial Soap and compare the two:
  1. Notice one weighs much more than the other.
  2. Do they smell the same?
  3. How do they feel when touched?
  4. Can you make a dent with your finger nail?
Make a Prediction:  How will each bar react in the microwave?

Compare and contrast microwave soap experiment for kids is lots of fun

How to Microwave Soap

1. Put the dial soap on a plate with a paper towel. Microwave for two minutes.  Make sure to let your child pull up a chair because this is pretty awesome.

2. When your Dial is finished take a look at it. Make note of any changes and how it appears.

3. Once it is cool, see if it still feels the same.  What about the weight?  My daughter thought the new texture was  “flaky.”

Now Let’s Compare Soap Reactions

4. Next, we put the Ivory soap in the microwave. Make sure you put it in the very middle of the paper towel, because it is going to need a lot of room to grow.

5. Remember, set it for two minutes. This one will start growing a lot faster than the Dial did, but it’s important that we remain consistent (for the sake of science!).

6. Ivory will grow HUGE. It happens twice as fast, and grows way more than the Dial soap.  It will probably get all over your microwave, but it’s just soap.

Now have your child compare and contrast the two.

Compare and Contrast Soap Experiment for Kids

Why did the Ivory grow so much more than the Dial? You can find a great explanation here— but don’t let your kids know the answer until they have come up with their own ideas!

More Kids Activities

Which other soaps would you use to compare and contrast in this experiment?  We hope you enjoyed this microwave soap experiment for kids.  For more experiments and awesome kids activities, we hope you will enjoy these fun ideas:



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9 Comments

  1. This is great! I always love new ideas to use for homeschool. Thanks for linking this up at ‘Or so she says…’. I’ll be featuring it this weekend, starting tomorrow! I would love for you to link back, if you haven’t already. Hope to see you again to share more of your great ideas!

    Mariel

  2. We love ivory soap in the microwave. Never tried dial…we may have to 🙂 We are featuring your post this week on Share It Saturday. Thanks for linking up!
    Colleen at Sugar Aunts

  3. I can’t wait to try this with my son. He will love it. Have I told you lately that you are a SAHM life-saver. As soon as I start to feel like I am running out of ideas you always have fresh inspiration. Thank you for sharing this with the Less Laundry, More Linking party.

  4. I’ve been meaning to do the Ivory soap with my kids for a while but hadn’t thought to make an experiment of it – thanks for the inspiration!
    Lucinda

  5. This sounds like fun. I am temporarily without a microwave, but I am bookmarking this for when we get a new one! So glad I found you through The Better Mom link party.

  6. Hi,
    I have found your blog while I was searching for kids activities on google.com, I’m from Brazil and I really want to do this activity with mylitle daugther, Maria Clara, she’s three years old. Can you explain to me the mening oh “dial soap” and ïvory soap”? What’s the differences between them?

    1. Those are just different brands of soap. You’ll probably have to use other brands available near you.