Getting children to wash their hands can be a mission, as every parent knows, but Sophie Best, Millie Hubbard and five other entrepreneurs have found a way to make the cleaning process a little more exciting for children.

Creating a soap with a hidden toy that can only be accessed through using the soap proved popular with judges at a recent Bay of Plenty schools entrepreneur competition, similar to the reality television show ‘Dragon's Den'.

Millie says the ‘Dragons' were 'a bit intimidating” but they were confident in their product.

'We knew it was quite a cool idea but trying to get the point across [to the Dragons] was quite hard, but we nailed it.”

The Year 13 Otumoetai College students say their team came up with the idea for MySoap because they wanted to try and solve an issue facing New Zealand society.

'We needed to find an area that would fit a lot of people and get a high target market, and we also wanted to solve an issue that was a big issue throughout New Zealand,” says Sophie.

'Hygiene was one of the key things that came up in young children.”

Popping a collectable toy in the middle of the soaps is to try and convince children to wash their hands.

The soaps are available in three colour and fragrance combinations, and come with a fact sheet that teaches children about the little animal in their soap.

Predicting the soaps will last up to six weeks with normal use, Sophie says they're also great to convince little ones to jump in the bathtub too.

'At the moment we're doing a range of whales and dolphins and things like that, because we thought it was appropriate because it is a bath and wash-your-hands toy.”

And the young entrepreneurs are planning to expand – to safari animals.

For more information, visit them on Facebook here.