Shaving cream can be a source of fun to end the boredom of kids stuck in the house on a rainy day. If you’re looking for a way to entertain the kids, look in your bathroom cabinet and grab a can. Here are twenty awesome shaving cream activities kids and adults will enjoy.
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1. Practice handwriting with shaving cream
Mess for Less recommends using shaving cream as a fun way to practice writing. Young kids can benefit from improving their fine motor skills by practicing their handwriting with their index fingers. It saves on paper, pencils, and erasers. Use a plastic serving tray or platter. Spread a layer of shaving cream over the bottom, to cover the colors completely.
Young kids can practice their handwriting skills from letters of the alphabet, and numbers, and making simple words. It’s also fun to draw pictures in the cream to see the color of the container beneath. Add more shaving cream to the top and you have a clean slate.
2. Create a rainbow of color
Shaving cream spread over a plastic surface is ideal for making rainbows with colored straws. The shaving cream holds the straws in place. You can cut them and bend them in various colors. It helps young kids to develop fine motor skills as they work with the straws to create their version of a rainbow. It’s a fun art project that stimulates creativity. You can help cut and bend the straws to create the arc of the rainbow.
3. Digging for Dinosaur Footprints activity
The Digging for Dinosaurs footprints activity gives young children an exciting and fun way to develop motor skills and patience. It’s an inexpensive game that requires a Dollar Store can of shaving cream, small round rocks that you gather, and a pair of chopsticks or small tongs you can also buy at the Dollar Store. Paint dinosaur footprints on the rocks, and let them dry.
Place the rocks in the bottom of the dish, and cover with shaving cream. Instruct the children to use the chopsticks or tongs to dig around in the shaving cream until they find the dinosaur footprints. It teaches the children how to use sensory skills to feel the rocks with tongs/chopsticks. It also improves fine motor skills as they pinch the rocks and pull them up through the cream.
An additional opportunity for education is to hide a specific number of rocks and have them count the “dino footprints” as they retrieve them. It also teaches them patience because the last remaining rocks are harder to find. They must use their deductive reasoning skills to guess where to look for the stragglers.
4. Hunting for the Alphabet game
Kids learn to identify the letters of the alphabet while building fine motor skills with the Hunting for the Alphabet game. It’s similar to the Digging for Dinosaur Footprints activity. Paint all 26 letters of the alphabet on small round rocks. Place them in the bottom of an oblong container that is about two inches deep. Cover with shaving cream, and provide the kids with small tongs.
Tell them to search for the letters and name them as they’re retrieved. It’s like an archaeological expedition to discover the ancient rocks that contain the letters of the alphabet. Keep a dry towel or paper towels handy with a bowl of water to rinse and dry the rocks for repeated use. The child will name the letter as they’re retrieved. It builds fine motor skills and helps young kids to build visual recognition skills of the letters of the alphabet.
5. Paint posters with colored shaving cream
Pick up a few cans of shaving cream at your local dollar store, along with food coloring. You can use a muffin tray to create various colors by mixing shaving cream and food coloring to make poster paints for young kids. Young children will love using these paints to create painting masterpieces on card stock poster boards or plain white paper. It’s an inexpensive activity that helps them use their imaginations for creative expression.
6. Create Shaving Cream Marbled Art
Cafe Mom suggests projects that involve shaving cream and skillfully swirled food coloring to create a marbled effect for wall art. It’s a fun and stimulating activity for kids from toddlers to primary grade ages.
It’s easy to create by spraying shaving cream into a tip pan, squirting a few drops of food coloring or acrylic paint across the top, then swirling the colors with a toothpick to make marbled patterns. Swirl the entire pan of shaving cream with the color or colors of your choice. When you’re pleased with the pattern, place a piece of paper over the top and press gently. Lift the paper and allow it to dry. These easy instructions are suitable for younger or older kids, who may create various types of marbled art with shaving cream.
7. Make shaving cream play dough with the kids
You can help your kids make play dough out of shaving cream and a few ingredients found in most pantries and kitchen cupboards. Combine 1 cup of shaving cream with two cups of cornstarch. Add more shaving cream if the dough feels crumbly, to moisten it to the best consistency. If it’s too wet, add more cornstarch. It teaches the children how to use their sensory skills and to estimate necessary additions and subtractions of ingredients. It’s fun for them to make, and it helps them to discern texture and consistency for analytical reasoning at a lower level of development. You can also add food coloring or acrylic paint to the mixture to make it more interesting.
8. Make shaving cream clouds
Shaving cream clouds add a scientific exploration and discovery quality to fun activities with shaving cream that are exciting for kids of all ages. To make clouds that drop raindrops, pour water into a clear glass until it is 2/3 full. Top with three inches of shaving cream. Dilute blue food coloring with water and mix. Use an eye dropper to drop the food coloring onto the shaving cream near the edges of the glass. Watch as the blue dye passes through the shaving cream and water, forming drips and drops that look like rain coming out of the clouds.
9. Create fluffy slime from shaving cream
Many recipes exist for homemade slime, but did you know you can make it out of shaving cream? Its thicker consistency makes it stretchy and fluffy to handle. It’s easy to make for hours of fun. Have the kids help. Add 3 cups of shaving cream to a large mixing bowl. Combine 1/4 teaspoon baking soda with 1/2 cup of washable PVA glue in white. Add a mixture of boric acid and sodium borate, with the desired colors of food coloring. Mix thoroughly until the slime is soft and stretchy, and enjoy.
10. Create a set of puffy paints
Shaving cream is an exceptional ingredient for creating homemade puffy paint. It’s fun to make art projects with 3-D paint that adds volume and texture to kids’ art projects. The recipe is easy to follow. It calls for equal parts of white Elmers’ glue and shaving cream. Add your favorite food colorings or dyes to get the color(s) you love the most. The paint can be applied with a paintbrush or a sponge to make 3-D masterpieces.
11. Make Shaving Cream Foam Sand
Growing a Jeweled Rose suggests helping the kids make a fun and easy foam sand from shaving cream. It provides kids of all ages with a foamy and cool sensory experience. The dough is foamy for the first five minutes of play, but it loses its foam after that. You can add more foam as needed. Mix sand and foam in equal parts. Fill small containers or thimbles with sand to make a castle, or enjoy squishing it through your fingers for a sensory experience. Kids learn about the properties of different ingredients and how manipulation changes them. It’s an introduction to science.
12. Make a sensory bin from shaving cream
Find a small to the medium-sized plastic box, and fill it with safe objects such as large round beads, or stones. Cover with shaving cream and let the kids dig in with their hands to find the objects below. If your child is learning about colors, make the rocks or beads of different colors and have them describe each as they retrieve them. It’s a fun and messy sensory game, but shaving cream cleans up quickly with a little warm water in a bowl and a soft towel for drying hands and surfaces.
13. Dye Easter eggs with shaving cream
Shaving cream dye is a novel and fun way to create marbled easter egg colors or other patterns with two ingredients or more as desired. You need cookie sheets, shaving cream, and brightly colored food coloring. Boil the eggs until they’re hard-boiled, and allow them to cool. Add shaving cream with food coloring to muffin tins until you achieve the desired colors or marbling effects (using a toothpick to swirl). Put the eggs into the colored foam and allow them to sit until they absorb the desired amount of coloring from the foam. Remove to the cookie sheet and allow to dry.
14. Make a rainbow of shaving cream on your Slip N Slide
A Rainbow slip and slide with colored shaving cream is a messy but fun experience for kids. Adults may want to join in the fun. Set up a Slip N Slide, and add colorful shaving cream to create a rainbow effect. Use one Slip N Slide, liquid watercolors, and several cans of shaving cream. Combine watercolors and shaving cream to create rainbow colors. Place them on the slide. You can also add a landing at the bottom of the slip n slide. Fill it with different colored shaving foam to make it more exciting to reach the bottom. Keep adding more colored shaving cream for each child. Keep a hose with potable water handy and paper towels for easy cleanup of the mess.
15. Make Bathtub Paints
Kids Activities Blog recommends shaving cream bathtub paint to create a fun experience for kids when they take a bath. The bathtub is the best place to make a mess, but this mess cleans up quickly and easily. Add a few drops of food coloring to shaving cream in the divided areas of a muffin pan. Mix well with a plastic spoon and provide for kids to paint the walls of the bathtub. When finished with their artwork, the mixture sprays off easily.
16. Pretend cupcakes with water beads and shaving cream
Making pretend foods is fun for kids. You can use muffin cup liners in muffin tins for this project. Let the kids spray the shaving cream into the cups, then add colorful water beads to the top. They look like delicious creamy cupcakes but don’t eat them. Instead, let toddlers and preschoolers enjoy a sensory experience and get their hands into the creamy filling. Teach them how to rinse the shaving cream off in a bowl of warm water, and dry on a paper towel. It’s an activity that is fun and educational.
17. Play Shaving Cream Twister
Twister is a fun family game that can become a sublime experience when you add colored shaving cream to the dots. Before the game begins, Spray shaving cream into mixing bowls, color them with a few drops of food coloring and mix well. Place a dollop on select circles of the Twister pad, and let the fun begin. We recommend doing this outdoors on the grass for easy cleanup with a water hose and some paper towels.
18. Connect the Dots with shaving cream
Another fun activity for young children is connecting the dots of shaving cream to form letters, numbers, or other images. It’s easy to do on the bathtub wall, and the mess cleans up faster. Add generous-sized dots to create the outline of the desired symbols or images on tub walls. Let the kids use their fingers to smear the dots of cream and follow the dots to form lines that create the images. It’s not only fun, but it’s educational. You can also do this activity on any flat surface such as a table or tray.
19. Make a puffy paint solar system with shaving cream
Thimble and Twig recommends a fun science project for kids and adults. Make puffy paint with shaving cream to create a picture of the solar system. You will need a large foam board or poster board in black. To make the puffy paints, combine white Elmers’ glue and shaving cream with one part glue to three parts shaving cream in a large bowl.
Spoon the mixture into plastic cups with plastic spoons. Add acrylic paint to make the appropriate colors for the planets in each. Sketch a solar system on the board in pencil. Draw the planets in the correct positions on the board. Fill in with a paintbrush until you get a 3-D shape for each. Let it dry, and use a marker to write the planet name at the bottom of each. You can also make stars on the board with blue paint and add glitter to make them sparkle.
20. Practice writing with shaving cream on a window
Modern Preschool suggests using shaving cream on a window to let the kids have fun practicing their writing skills and creating window art. It’s an activity that is fun, and it cleans up quickly with water and paper towels. Spread the shaving cream on the window and let kids write with their fingers. Wipe surfaces clean with paper towels when the activity is over.
You can also read:
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- 50 Christmas Writing Prompts that Aren’t Boring
Insights, advice, suggestions, feedback and comments from experts
Shaving cream can be a versatile and entertaining tool for kids and adults alike. It can be used for various activities that promote creativity, sensory exploration, and fine motor skills development. Here are some ideas for fun shaving cream activities:
1. Practice handwriting with shaving cream
Shaving cream can be used as a fun and tactile way for young kids to practice their handwriting skills. By spreading a layer of shaving cream on a plastic tray or platter, kids can use their index fingers to write letters, numbers, and simple words in the cream. This activity helps improve fine motor skills and saves on paper, pencils, and erasers [[1]].
2. Create a rainbow of color
Shaving cream can be used to create colorful rainbows with colored straws. By spreading shaving cream over a plastic surface, kids can cut and bend colored straws to create their own version of a rainbow. This activity helps develop fine motor skills and stimulates creativity [[2]].
3. Digging for Dinosaur Footprints activity
The Digging for Dinosaur Footprints activity is an exciting and educational game that helps kids develop motor skills and patience. By painting dinosaur footprints on small round rocks and hiding them in a dish filled with shaving cream, kids can use chopsticks or tongs to dig around and find the footprints. This activity improves sensory skills, fine motor skills, and deductive reasoning [[3]].
4. Hunting for the Alphabet game
The Hunting for the Alphabet game is a fun way for kids to learn and identify the letters of the alphabet while building fine motor skills. By painting all 26 letters of the alphabet on small round rocks and hiding them in a container filled with shaving cream, kids can use tongs to search for the letters and name them as they retrieve them. This activity helps build visual recognition skills and fine motor skills [[4]].
5. Paint posters with colored shaving cream
Shaving cream can be mixed with food coloring to create homemade poster paints for young kids. By using a muffin tray to mix shaving cream and food coloring, kids can use these paints to create painting masterpieces on poster boards or plain white paper. This activity encourages creative expression and imaginative play [[5]].
6. Create Shaving Cream Marbled Art
Shaving cream can be combined with skillfully swirled food coloring to create marbled art. By spraying shaving cream into a pan, adding drops of food coloring or acrylic paint, and swirling the colors with a toothpick, kids can create unique marbled patterns. Placing a piece of paper over the top and pressing gently creates a print of the pattern. This activity is suitable for kids of different ages and encourages artistic exploration [[6]].
7. Make shaving cream play dough with the kids
Shaving cream can be used to make play dough by combining it with cornstarch. By adding shaving cream to cornstarch and adjusting the consistency as needed, kids can create a sensory play dough that helps them develop their sensory skills, estimate necessary additions and subtractions of ingredients, and discern texture and consistency [[7]].
8. Make shaving cream clouds
Shaving cream can be used to create clouds that drop raindrops, adding a scientific exploration element to fun activities. By pouring water into a glass, topping it with shaving cream, and dropping diluted food coloring onto the shaving cream, kids can observe the blue dye passing through the shaving cream and water, forming drips and drops that resemble rain coming out of the clouds [[8]].
9. Create fluffy slime from shaving cream
Shaving cream can be used to make fluffy slime, providing hours of fun for kids. By combining shaving cream, baking soda, washable PVA glue, and food coloring, kids can create a stretchy and fluffy slime. This activity encourages sensory play and creativity [[9]].
10. Create a set of puffy paints
Shaving cream can be used to create homemade puffy paint, adding volume and texture to kids' art projects. By combining equal parts of white Elmers' glue and shaving cream, and adding food coloring or dyes, kids can create 3-D paint that can be applied with a paintbrush or sponge to make textured masterpieces [[10]].
These are just a few examples of the many fun activities that can be done with shaving cream. It's a versatile and affordable tool that can provide hours of entertainment and educational value for kids and adults alike.
