I came across the coolest book, called "clean house, clean planet" by Karen Logan. This book is filled with recipes for creating your own non-toxic household cleaners. This week we gathered all the things we needed to make our own cleaners, and today was the day we put it all together. The kids had a lot of fun mixing and pouring the ingredients.
I let each of them do a recipe, and then they each gave their cleaners a special name. It was pretty crazy trying to get the kids to all be patient and wait their turns. A few times I had to stop them from tasting the vinegar and baking soda. Why they felt they needed to taste it is beyond me!
We gave each of the cleaners a few drops of essential oils to give them a nice smell. We incorporated some math into our chemistry project, by counting the number of drops we needed, and figuring out what half of 16 was since one of the cleaning recipes called for half water half vinegar in a 16 oz bottle. That was a perfect lesson for Gable, since he is learning his doubles math facts.
We made a huge mess of our kitchen table, but enjoyed every minute of it. Now that the kids have created their own cleaners, I can hardly stop them from wanting to spray and clean everything in sight. The most fun recipe to do, was the toilet bowl cleaner. I'll leave the recipe at the end of my entry for you all to try out! It is neat to see what the different reactions are when the ingredients are mixed. Especially the baking soda and vinegar!
Toilet Bowl cleaner
22 oz squirt bottle (an old detergent one like my palmolive one works great)
Mix 1/2 cup liquid soap or 1/2 cup detergent, and 2 cups baking soda together using a fork. Dilute with 1/4 cup water and add TBS vinegar to make it foam. Add 1/2 tsp tea tree oil. Mix and pour into bottle. Shake bottle before using the cleaner.
I totally know how it can be to have all the little hands involved in making something... It can be challenging! It looks like you all had a blast, though :)
I will try the toilet bowl cleaner, for sure... Maybe I need to get my hands on the other recipes too, since we seem to go through cleaners sooo fast.
I've wanted to get my hands on that book. (Or one like it!) What a great project to do with the kids, especially if it motivates them to do a bit of cleaning! I'll have to try the toilet bowl cleaner- that's one of the few chemical cleaners I still use, and I'd like to replace it with something natural. Does there happen to be a recipe for a floor cleaner that's safe for laminate floors?
Okay, I'm going to the library website to see if I can check that book out!
Beca
Very cool, this looks like something we could benefit from :-)
Ali I just left Christine’s blog and had to jump on over here to let you know that your blogs are just beautiful!!! It seems like just yesterday you were fiddling with templates and now you are putting together these beautiful works of art!!! I can see your stamp on blogs and I just wanted to tell you I love them!
Hope your having a wonderful weekend!
Blessings,
Tiany
Thanks for sharing this. Great project!
You're very talented with blog design.
We also love the Miller series.
Since you're in Oregon and 100% pro-life, you may be interested in coming to Steps for Life at Pioneer Courthouse Square on May 12th to support PRC. For more info., please visit my blog: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/servingtheKingofkings/311947/.
Tag, you're it! If you want to play stop by my blog for the rules.
By the way, the chemistry projects look great! I love natural household cleaners but they of course cost more so this is a great idea. I'll have to check out the book.
Thanks for your post. I don’t know if you’re familiar with Maya & Miguel, a show on PBS in the afternoons -- http://pbskidsgo.org/mayaandmiguel -- that emphasizes cultural diversity and language learning but I’m reaching out to talk to parents about the program as part of a marketing project I’m working on with Scholastic.
I found your post and thought I’d reach out to say hello and ask if you’d like to receive a free Maya & Miguel DVD. If you’d like to receive the DVD just email me at Kerri at boldmouth.com with your address and I’ll have it shipped it out to you.
If you do choose to blog about Maya & Miguel show or episodes on the DVD, please make it clear how you received the information. Our goal is to be open and honest with everyone we reach.
I have been making homemade cleaners for a while, it is so nice to not even have to go down that aisle. I am going to have my blessings help when I make the tb cleaner you gave here. Thanks, Melissa
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