Shaving foam paint

Summary:   a soothing, sensory medium for play, with lots of possibility for creativity, imagination and fun for all ages

Set-up: 5 mins

Play: 30 mins – an hour

Complexity: Easy, but this one appeals to all ages

Materials

• Shaving foam
• Trays or other flat surface
• Food colouring
• Jars and droppers
• Wooden stirring sticks

What to do

Squirt the shaving foam in piles onto the surface. Set up some jars of different food colouring (you can water it down) and place a dropper in each. Then invite your child to explore! They can drip drops of food colouring onto the shaving foam, swirl it with the sticks, and mix it with their hands. Talk with children about the movements and patterns they are making, and encourage them to describe what they are feeling and thinking.

Extensions

Spread the shaving foam across the tray and draw patterns, or write letters and numbers in the foam. Have your child write their name or a special message in the foam and photograph it.

Explore colour mixing: can you mix two different colours into the shaving foam to make a third colour? What colour does your child think you will make?

Encourage pretend play by adding animals, vehicles or lego to the shaving foam mix. Hide objects in the foam and try to guess what they are just by touch.

What learning does this activity promote?

Exploration, vocabulary, hypothesising, fine motor skills, imagination.

By Dr Vicki Hargraves

PREPARED FOR THE EDUCATION HUB BY

Dr Vicki Hargraves

Dr Vicki Hargraves runs our early childhood education webinar series and also is responsible for the creation of many of our early childhood research reviews. Vicki is a teacher-educator and researcher living in Wellington. Her PhD drew on posthumanist philosophy to understand early childhood education as a deeply materialist practice, and her research and writing interests demonstrate her commitment to creative child- and community-centred approaches to education focused on social justice and participation, as well as attention to multiple ways of knowing and being in early childhood education.