Frozen Shaving Cream Foam Paint Recipe for Kids

Painting with Frozen Shaving Cream Foam Paint – Recipe for Kids

This is an easy frozen shaving cream foam paint recipe for kids to use. Frozen shaving foam paint is a fun activity for children to experiment with colour and texture. My children love painting with shaving cream foam paint, but this adds an extra sensory experience and excitement. They enjoy how the foam slowly melts as they use it. Both children and toddlers enjoy painting with foam, and they also enjoy squishing it with their fingers and hands.

The first time I did this, my youngest was about a year old, so I had to make sure he didn’t eat it. However, he watched his brother do it first, so he quickly joined in with finger painting. Children can use frozen foam paint on paper, trays, tuff spots or windows. It works best to do this using fingers, so this is a particularly good activity for children who need sensory experiences.

What you need for Frozen Shaving Cream Foam Paint Recipe for Kids

• Shaving foam
• Food colouring or children’s paint
• Small containers
• Tray, tough spot, paper or another surface to paint on
• Glitter (optional)
• Essential oil (optional)

To make frozen foam paint, spray out shaving foam into containers. Fluffy/bubbly shaving foam works best for this activity (rather than gel shaving foam). Then slowly mix in food colouring (start with a dw doosor a small amount of paint using a small spoon. To make it extra exciting, you can also mix in glitter or essential oils. Place the containers in the freezer for at least 2 hours (until it is solid).

Questions to ask

• How does it feel? What do you notice?
• What are you making?
• What happens when you mix those colours?
• How is this similar or different from painting with other paint? How is it similar or different to when we’ve painted with shaving foam (not frozen)?

What they get from painting with shaving foam

Frozen shaving cream foam painting is a fun way to take painting, and even foam painting, further. It is a good sensory activity that also allows children to experiment with mixing colours. Adding glitter or essential oils to it adds additional visual and olfactory sensory experiences for children. For young children, this type of painting allows for an early opportunity to make marks. Older children may mark make as well as practice letter and number formation.

There are learning benefits to sensory play. When we use and engage our senses (sight, touch, smell, taste, sound or vestibular & proprioception – our sense of balance, body position and place in space) it helps to develop new connections in the brain. The more sensory experiences we have, the greater ability we have to develop pathways in the brain for thought, learning and creativity (Gascoyne, 2016).

Take it further

You may also want to see my post on Chalk Painting – Learning about Colour Mixing, Valentines STEM Art Projects for Toddlers and Kids and Edible Mark Making Activities for Toddlers & Preschoolers.

I will also have another post on making shaving cream paint coming soon.

References

Gascoyne, Sue (2016). Sensory Play: Play in the EYFS. Andrews UK Limited.