Create your very own Soap Buddies with this simple, homemade soap recipe. Let your kids pick a variety of candy molds to make a whole range of soapy friends.

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What you'll need:

How to make it:

1. In a bowl pour approximately 3 cups of soap flakes.
2. Add 1 to 1 and 1/2 cups of water with a few drops of food colouring added to it.
3. With your hands mix the contents of the bowl until it forms the consistency of play dough.
4. To shape it, take a drop or two of vegetable oil and rub it between the palm of your hands -- now shape anyway you wish.
5. If you want to make a soap on a rope, cut a piece of string and tie the ends together. Push the knotted end gently into the your finished shape.
6. Let the completed soap stand to set over night
7. If you can't find soap flakes, you can make your own. Get some bars of pure soap and finely grate them to make soap powder. This powder may not need as much water to be workable. Start with just 1/3 to 1/2 cup per 3 cups of soap powder. Add more as needed.
8. Make shaped soap with candy molds. Press soap dough into lightly greased candy molds. Let set-up overnight before unmolding.

Tips:

Jan Medley shares some great ideas for making shaped soaps:

• Using the Bath Buddies recipe, pat or roll the mixture out to a suitable thickness and let the kids use cookie cutters or theme
  cutters (Lion King, alphabet cutters, etc.) to make individual soaps.
• Make soap-on-a-rope by cutting two identical pieces and sandwiching the string between the layers. You could also make two-tone soaps by using identical shapes of different colors and sandwiching them together.
• Smaller cutters make nice shapes in guest-soap size that can be placed in a small wicker basket for gift giving, bathroom display, or drawer sachets.