Monday, February 7, 2011

Two Ways to Have Fun with Shaving Cream

First, Squish bags! These are great for fine motor practice, relieving tension, talking about colors, color mixing and are also surely a sensory experience....and they're so simple to make!

You'll need:

Baggies (freezer baggies are best if you have them)
Strong tape (I used packing tape)
Cheap shaving cream (think Barbasol)
Food coloring or paint

 
To create a squish bag, simply squirt some shaving cream into the baggie the add some color. Then squirt more shaving cream inside, and if you're using two colors to make a third color, add that now. Add a bit more more shaving cream without making the bag too full, as you want to leave plenty of room for squishing and squashing. Finally, seal the bag then tape across and over the top a couple times to prevent leaking. Done! Hand it over to the adorable toddler in your life.

This is pretty neat  Mommy!

By the end of one fun squishing session, the colors started to mix!  After a few days, the entire bag is now a pretty neon green and Ty still enjoys the interesting feel of touching and squishing his hands into the bag.

Another wonderful way to enjoy shaving cream, for the ultimate sensory experience, is to squirt an bunch of it on top of a table or highchair tray, add some paint (I wouldn't recommend food coloring!) and let your little one dive in. No instruction is necessary on this one! I added a train to run through the shaving cream for a little extra fun.

 
Ty ran into the kitchen and dove into this so fast I couldn't even put his new smock on him! As you can see from looking on the floor behind Ty, this became quite a messy ordeal. Some kids may be best off contained to a high chair or booster at the table! 

I had a paint brush nearby and he enjoys using them so I grabbed that too. The only problem with paintbrushes in our house is that when you label it a "paint brush" Ty confuses it with "hair brush" and comes directly at me to so sweetly brush my hair with it...dripping with paint and all...  :)  You just have to love toddlers! 

After he was finished (and cleaned-up!) I pressed a piece of paper on top of a colorful area of the shaving cream to make a print of his art.

Once dry, you have a soft, rather fluffy picture to add to your child's artwork display!

 As a side note, it can be fun for kids to also draw with their fingers in the shaving cream as it's easy to wipe away and start over!

3 comments:

  1. Very cool. I cant wait to try these!

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  2. Have you considered using whipped cream?

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  3. I've never thought of that for sensory play use! It may not work for me as Ty has a dairy intolerance, but certainly could be fun for others. Thanks for sharing your idea Erica!

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