Citronella Soap recipe – Craft Gossip

Try this citronella soap recipe for a great summer soap. Citronella is a fantastic insect repellent now that warm weather is arriving and crushed pennyroyal leaves smell very minty, creating a fresh soap for hot weather! This soap is not recommended for small children, as citronella oil can cause skin irritation on sensitive skin.

Citronella Soap Recipe – (Melt and Pour)
From Pure and Natural Soaps

1 cup grated Castile soap
1/2 cup water
10 drops citronella essential oil
5 drops eucalyptus essential oil
1 T. dried, crushed pennyroyal leaves

Mix the ingredients into the melted soap/water mixture. With an electric mixer, whip the soap until it has doubled in volume. Spoon the soap into the prepared molds, pushing it into the molds as best you can (the beating action cools the mix, so work quickly). If the mixture has cooled off and thickened so much you can’t put it into the molds, hand mold the soap into large balls.

With the arrival of the Japanese Encephalitis Mosquito, it has become important to make sure those pesky mosquitos are not snacking on you. Japanese encephalitis symptoms include Headache, neck pain, and Nausea. . Japanese encephalitis does have a vaccine and you should contact your local medical professional for information on obtaining this vaccination.

But how else can you protect yourself against mosquitos? Keep mosquitoes away from exposed skin by wearing long-sleeved shirts, long pants, and socks, you can even wear a mosquito net hat. Tuck shirts into pants and pants into socks to cover gaps in your clothing where mosquitoes can get to your skin. For a natural repellent use essential oils for making your own Mosquito bug spray repellent. Add oils to water and spray into the air or add small drops to your clothing. Use a Necklace or Bracelet oil diffuser to help repel mosquitoes naturally. Insect bracelets and necklaces are great for children too.

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This month we’ve looked at cat learning activities and dog learning activities, but what if you have a different kind of pet? Here are some other pet themed learning activities you can try at home or in the classroom.

Tot Schooling has a cute pet bingo game, which does include dogs and cats but also lizards, snakes and fish. They also have a cute mathing game for learning about pets and their homes.

No Time for Flashcards has a ton of great pet themed learning activities including crafts, printables and more. There’s a PDF in there with a super cute animal checkup sheet for doing a pretend play vets office.

Planning Playtime has a great set of pet themed printables available for purchase, including things like making patterns with feathers, pet racing with unit cubes, beginning sounds, shapes and more. These would be great for a classroom.

Speaking of classrooms, Pocket of Preschool has ideas for pet-focused centers you can set up in the classroom, including counting, number lines and this cute frog shape I spy activity pictured.

If you have a pet store where you live you can try this pet store scavenger hunt from Toddler Approved. Or head to the library and see if you can find books about these different kinds of pets. You can also grab a pet-themed scavenger hunt you can do at home or in the classroom as part of the printable pack from Crafty Life Mom. If you don’t have all the items you can use pictures.

Let kids invent their own pets with this activity from Stories by Storie based on the book Invent a Pet. The printables are free when you sign up for their newsletter.

Sunny Day Family has adorable templates kids can use to build pets, including a dog, cat, rabbit, lizard, mouse and bird. These blank slate designs allow kids to add features including faces, stripes and more.

Make pets with playdough with the printable playdough mats from Preschool Play and Learn.

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