Painting with Colored Shaving Cream

 
 
Art for toddlers and a sensory experience at the same time: We painted with colored shaving cream!
 
(E was 27 months old when she painted with colored shaving cream.)

 



You’ll need:

  • Heavier colored paper.
  • Shaving cream.
  • Paint or food coloring.
  • Paintbrush (optional).

 

 

 

In another pre-breakfast burst of creativity, E asked to paint and went straight for the shaving cream while gathering supplies. {She really enjoys shaving cream activities – see our Marbled Hearts and Shaving Cream Puffy Paint activities for other examples of what we’ve done with it.}

Then it was time for me to be creative with what to add to the shaving cream, and I settled on some green tempera. We didn’t have much but I actually like how the paint made swirls in the shaving cream, and how you can still see streaks of white in the finished picture.

 

Swirls of tempera in a bowl full of shaving cream.
 

Recently, E has started painting with more expansive brush strokes again, and she covered most of the paper.

 

Toddler Painting
 
 
Toddler painting with colored shaving cream.
 

Of course, E made sure to enjoy the texture of the shaving cream between bouts of painting. {While she did get some tempera on her pyjamas (before any of it actually got into the shaving cream 😉 ), she didn’t focus as much on the sensory aspect of the shaving cream in this activity as she has before.}

 

Enjoying the texture of shaving cream.
 

Her picture right after E finished painting, with the shaving cream still wet.

 

Finished colored shaving cream painting, still wet.
 

After about 6 hours of drying. I’d expected the shaving cream to pretty much disappear (as most of it had during painting) but it dried up nicely and gave a unique effect. The colors actually became more vibrant during the drying process.

 

Finished colored shaving cream painting.

 



What I’ve learned:

  • During painting, most of the plain shaving cream disappears but what’s left on the paper when you’re done will be white once your picture has dried.
  • Colors will be more vibrant on your dried picture.
  • Any raised areas of shaving cream will rub off, so it’s best to avoid handling the finished picture as much as possible.



 

Additional suggestions:

  • You can use different kinds of paint or other substances to color the shaving cream.
  • There’s no need to use a paintbrush. Hands and fingers would be a lot of fun and turn it into even more of a sensory activity.
  • You don’t need to use colored paper if you put more color in the shaving cream. You’ll get a different effect that way.



 

Have you tried painting with shaving cream? Leave a comment!

 

 

 

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