Shaving cream is one of my favorite materials to keep on hand in the classroom for sensory-based learning activities.
Reasons I love shaving cream sensory activities
- It gives children an opportunity to explore messy materials while providing a fairly easy clean-up. I love that it does not stain clothes, and it rinses right off of hands and arms.
- Shaving cream is extremely versatile! There are so many ways to use it.
- It is fairly cost-effective. You don’t have to purchase a specific brand or variety of shaving cream. You can even find it at the dollar store!
10 Ways to use shaving cream in the classroom
1. Sensory exploration
Spray a large amount of shaving cream on a large table or on individual desks. Allow children to explore it using their senses. How does it smell? Sound? Feel? Look? Let them squish it and smear it on the table. Depending on your age group, this could be a conversation starter or lead into a writing activity.
2. Math practice
Spray shaving cream on each students desk and allow them to trace various shapes, numbers, and math equations in the shaving cream.
3. Literacy Practice
Spray shaving cream on each students desk and have them trace letters, sight words, phonics practice, or spelling words.
4. Sensory Table Exploration
Using a sizable amount, fill a sensory table (or bin) with shaving cream. Provide different sizes of scoops for children to fill and scoop up the shaving cream with. I loved this activity and used it in my classroom often. I would regularly trade out the scoops for cups, measuring spoons, and measuring cups
5. Color Mixing Exploration
Fill your sensory table (or sensory bin) with shaving cream and drizzle liquid watercolor over the top (I prefer to use washable liquid watercolor for less stains ). Don’t mix the color in. Instead provide the children with various paint brushes and tools so they can swirl the colors together and explore color mixing.
6. Color it with liquid watercolor.
In individual pie tins add about 1-2 cups of shaving cream and mix in colored paint (washable tempera paint works, but I still prefer liquid watercolor). Present the colored shaving cream to children with paper and various painting utensils. My favorite painting utensils are large paint brushes, plastic silverware, and kitchen spatulas.
7. Create “stamped” art.
Fill a sensory bin or table with shaving cream and swirl liquid watercolor into the shaving cream. Children can then place a piece of paper on top of the colored shaving cream, and when they lift it up, there will be a swirled effect left behind. Once the shaving cream dries, it will leave a beautiful abstract painting.
8. Make Puffy Paint
Puffy Paint is a super simple and fun activity to add to your art curriculum. Find my post on How to make Puffy Paint here.
9. Make Puffy Slime
Puffy slime is a fun variation of traditional slime using liquid starch, school glue, contact solution, and shaving cream.
10. Make an I Spy sensory bin
Place printed pictures, words or numbers in the bottom of your sensory bin and cover with clear contact paper (I recommend using printed items that you are okay throwing away at the end of the activity). Cover the contact paper with shaving cream and give student paintbrushes to brush away the shaving cream and revealing the hidden pictures. You can use any kind of picture you want in relation to your classroom goals: student pictures, family pictures, community buildings, community signs, sight words, letters, or numbers.