Sensory Shaving Cream Fall Art

We sure love shaving cream around here! 5-year-old E has played with the stuff for years and never gets tired of it. Now, we got 2-year-old N hooked, too 🙂 {One of N’s first experiences was this Shaving Cream Sensory Soup that the kids turned into an awesome sensory sibling activity.}

>> See more fall activities for kids

I’ll admit that I love the feel of shaving cream, too, and I think it’s awesome that the activities feel SO messy. And really they are, but the cleanup is still so easy.

Seriously, if you’ve shied away from it because you were worried about the cleanup, try a limited amount of plain shaving cream on a tray or directly on a table, you’ll be surprised! (Note that adding paint can cause staining on items you can’t put in the washing machine easily. However, plain shaving cream has never stained anything for me. In fact has always wiped up easily, including on curtains, rugs, and the sofa. Told you we’ve played with it a LOT 😉 )

This time, E did some Sensory Shaving Cream Fall Art. I wasn’t sure if she was still going to go all in and maximize the sensory experience at almost 6 (she’s turning 6 in two weeks!), but … well, see for yourself 🙂

My kindergartener did some really fun sensory process art the other day: Her Sensory Shaving Cream Fall Art allowed for creative expression, worked on her fine motor skills, was a great sensory experience, and was just plain fun! A great activity for toddlers, preschoolers, and up!

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Materials for Sensory Shaving Cream Fall Art

Shaving cream.
Tempera paint. We used red and yellow to go with the fall theme.
Cookie sheet or tray to work on.
Paintbrush or chopstick (optional).
Fall-themed table scatter.

Invitation to Play

I set this up as an invitation to play/create. Then I sprayed some shaving cream on the cookie sheet without smoothing it out. Finally, I placed small drops of paint in random spots. In a little leaf-shaped bowl, I set out a paintbrush and a limited amount of plastic fall-themed table scatter, then left the rest to E’s imagination.

She went straight for the paintbrush and chose to dip it in the little dots of paint to paint the edges of the cookie sheet.

Certainly not something I would’ve come up with, but that’s the beauty of invitations to play and create 🙂

Next, she started mixing the paint into the shaving cream with her paintbrush. This reminded me of how we made marbled shaving cream crafts {like these Marbled Pumpkins} a couple of years ago. I think we should do that again sometime soon.

She tried with her finger, but didn’t really get into it (yet).

She turned to the table scatter next and started carefully painting each piece.

And then started putting them in just the right spots in the shaving cream. I loved her focus and concentration in this phase of the activity.

Have you been waiting for the sensory exploration? Well, you don’t need to wait any longer. 🙂 That was the point where she discarded the paintbrush and stuck her hands in the shaving cream. Both of them!

She explored the shaving cream and paint mixture for several minutes.

And was delighted every time she found a piece of table scatter again 🙂

If you think this activity is awesome, you must see this list of Fall Activities for Kindergarten.

Clean-up

Even with the paint, cleanup was still easy, because E kept everything on the cookie sheet and because she knows not to touch anything on the way to the washing her hands. In general, tempera paint is quite washable, anyway, but I’d rather not get it on fabrics that I can’t wash easily.

If you’re looking for more fun science activities, check out these Fall Science Activities for Preschoolers.