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I am happy to have Sara of Happy Brown House sharing with us all today as part of the A-Z's of Sensory Play for Kids series. She is sharing one of my favorite things to use, shaving cream sensory play.
One of my favorite go-to sensory play materials for preschoolers is shaving cream. Little fingers love to squish it and spread it around. Shaving cream has a smell, so this activity involves more than one sense. Most households have shaving cream already in a cabinet, making this a quick and easy activity to set up with zero prep time. Best of all, it's relatively easy to clean up!
Like most three-year-olds, my son is an active little guy with a short attention span. When I need to engage him in an activity that will keep him busy for longer than normal, I pull out shaving cream.
Manipulating shaving cream by itself is a fun activity–spreading it, squishing it through fingers, and trying to clean off the globs from his hands keeps my son busy for quite a while.
After he's had time for free play, I encourage my son to practice “writing” with his finger. He's taken great interest in practicing his name lately, so he tried writing that with surprising success for a 3 year old! (His name is Asher if you need a little help making sense of his letters below.)
After writing his name, I encouraged him to “erase” by spreading the shaving cream around and asked him to write some more. He chose a variety of letters and shapes. This is a great pre-writing activity for little hands still strengthening their fine motor skills.
When he was bored with writing letters, he chose a car to drive through the shaving cream “snow”. He enjoyed making tire tracks with his favorite red fire truck. In just a few minutes, he was ready to wash his hands and move to another activity.
Tip: For easy clean-up, I usually have my son play shaving cream on a baking sheet or plastic tray. When he's finished, I can rinse off the shaving cream in the sink and move on to the next thing in a matter of seconds.
Want more fun activities for little hands that promote fine motor skills development? Check out this blog post.
Sara is a former teacher turned homeschool mom to two active boys. She loves to share hands-on learning activities on her blog, Happy Brown House. You can find her on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.
For more sensory play ideas, follow along in the A-Z's of Sensory Play for Kids series.
Heather Greutman, COTA
Heather Greutman is a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant with experience in school-based OT services for preschool through high school. She uses her background to share child development tips, tools, and strategies for parents, educators, and therapists. She is the author of many ebooks including The Basics of Fine Motor Skills, and Basics of Pre-Writing Skills, and co-author of Sensory Processing Explained: A Handbook for Parents and Educators.
CONTENT DISCLAIMER: Heather Greutman is a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant. All information on the Website is for informational purposes only and is not a replacement for medical advice from a physician or your pediatrician. Please consult with a medical professional if you suspect any medical or developmental issues with your child. The information on the Websites does not replace the relationship between therapist and client in a one-on-one treatment session with an individualized treatment plan based on their professional evaluation. The information provided on the Website is provided “as is” without any representations or warranties, express or implied.
Do not rely on the information on the Website as an alternative to advice from your medical professional or healthcare provider. You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice, or discontinue medical treatment as a result of any information provided on the Website. All medical information on the Website is for informational purposes only.
All activities outlined on the Website are designed for completion with adult supervision. Please use your own judgment with your child and do not provide objects that could pose a choking hazard to young children. Never leave a child unattended during these activities. Please be aware of and follow all age recommendations on all products used in these activities. Growing Hands-On Kids is not liable for any injury when replicating any of the activities found on this blog.
YOUR RESPONSIBILITY The Website was developed strictly for informational purposes. You understand and agree that you are fully responsible for your use of the information provided on the Website. Growing Hands-On Kids makes no representations, warranties, or guarantees. You understand that results may vary from person to person. Growing Hands-On Kids assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions that may appear on the Website.
But there are great developmental benefits to sensory play, like this shaving cream activity. Messy play can reduce tactile sensitivity in children, which translates to better experiences with clothing and food later on. Shaving cream is a relatively mess-free way to play with textures!
Just spray the shaving cream in tray, smoothen it out and put few drops of food coloring. Then I asked my daughter to mix and explore using a popsicle stick but after sometime she wanted to put her hands in…. Absolute messy funtime!! An instant hit for kids!!
Squeeze a large amount of shaving cream on the surface and encourage your children to draw shapes, letters, or just smoosh the cream between their fingers. This activity can be done with shaving cream in a large plastic bag if you would like to avoid the mess!
Shaving cream itself is not a hazardous or toxic substance. If it was, people would not be putting it on their faces and legs. But if you want to get technical, the aerosol propellant that pushes the cream out of the can could be considered hazardous… IF THE KIDS ARE HUFFING THE EMPTY CANS!
In a nutshell: By filling plastic re-sealable bags with shaving cream, food coloring and various favorite items you can create a mess free sensory play activity where children can squeeze the bags, find objects, and watch the color mix in with the fluffy foam.
One of the most popular substitutes for shaving cream is conditioner — and for a good reason. Conditioner typically has a thick formula and is formulated with soothing, hydrating ingredients, making it an easy swap for shaving cream if you're in need.
Both shaving foam and shaving cream are great to use for all sorts of fun kids activities and messy play ideas for toddlers and preschoolers. Have a go at some of these ideas at home, from foam dough, to sand foam, shaving foam paints, rain clouds and more.
Waxing is probably the most common alternative to shaving and it offers numerous benefits but also a few drawbacks. The process is simple – prepare your skin, apply the wax (typically in strips), and pull them off! The wax latches onto your hairs and pulls them out effectively.
Children with autism mainly produce one sort of laughter — voiced laughter, which has a tonal, song-like quality. This type of laughter is associated with positive emotions in typical controls. In the new study, researchers recorded the laughter of 15 children with autism and 15 typical children aged 8 to 10 years.
Sensory toys are designed to stimulate a child's five senses: sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste. They might include elements such as bright, contrasting colors, sounds, or different textures. These toys are meant to help children develop their senses in a safe and natural environment using play.
Just mix 1 tbsp of dish soap with 1/4 cup of water (a little goes a long way) and a few drops of food coloring and blend with a hand mixer! Use tear free soap if you think they'll get it in their eyes 👀 One way to play is to make “muffins!” Give little ones a muffin tin and let them scoop and decorate.
Here is a 2 ingredient, colorful sensory playdough with shaving cream! What do you get when you whip up a batch of cornstarch and shaving cream? You get foam dough, a totally awesome texture for little hands and big hands to squeeze and squish.
To make this taste-safe play foam simply drain the water from two tins of chickpeas, add a teaspoon of cream of tartar, a drop of food colouring if you like and whizz into a foam! The cream of tartar helps to keep it foamy for longer but if you don't have any it's not absolutely essential.
Since a shaving cream activity can be messy, be sure to have kids dress appropriately in old clothes. This activity is best done outside or in an area that can be easily cleaned, like a bathtub. Shaving cream can also be used as finger paint, and it's safe for kids, making it a great sensory activity.
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