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I love activities that use stuff I already have around the house. This shaving cream paint process art was a huge success and easy to do. A great painting activity for kids.
Shaving cream paint process art for kids
Shaving cream paint requires minimal supplies and is a ton of fun. I enjoyed doing it too. Process art is a project that allows kids to be creative instead of focusing on the finished project. This shaving cream paint is just that, but it also makes gorgeous pictures that are sure to please parents too.
I don’t know about you, but I hate messy activities. So, we did this project outside to minimize part of the mess. We cleaned up and brought our pictures inside to dry, and guess what? It rained and I didn’t have to go out after work and spray down the area we used. Score!
There are a ton of benefits to finger painting or working with mediums that kids can get their hands in. You can give them popsicle sticks, skewers, brushes, sticks, or whatever else you want them to be able to paint with as well. Painting gives kids sensory stimulation which is even more heightened because shaving cream has fragrance. It also helps them with fine motor skills and the scientific process.
Allowing kids to do process art rather than crafts gives them an opportunity to grow their creativity. It builds self-esteem in knowing they can create something beautiful without being shown what it should look like.
Creativity is formed by age 8 and in Oklahoma where I live, art is not taught in school until 5th grade, so I feel like I have a huge responsibility to give kids opportunities to be creative. This shaving cream paint will do just that.
Shaving foam painting
What you need to do shaving foam painting:
- Shaving cream (the foamy kind) Make sure if you have kids that may have sensitive skin or sensitivity to fragrance like I do, to buy sensitive instead of original or something else. No one needs to get a rash from the activity.
- Liquid watercolors (you can use food coloring but that will stain more)
- White paper (we used copy paper but you could recycle your old junk mail that’s blank on the back)
- Popsicle stick or ruler
How to set up the activity:
- Spray shaving foam in a pile in front of the child. We did it right on the table, but you could give them a tray or plate.
- Give the kids eye droppers of liquid watercolor to squirt in (or use a different type of coloring and put it on top)
- Let them go at it.
Shaving cream painting preschool
Kids will mix colors, feel the foam, squeeze it, swirl it or whatever they enjoy. Once they are done, take a piece of paper and press it into the foam. Use a popsicle stick to scrape the cream off the paper and discard it. Enjoy the print the shaving cream paint left on the paper. You can wipe off any residue with a paper towel.
Questions to ask preschoolers about the shaving cream paint project could be, what happens to the colors when you swirl them? What colors did you make when you mixed those together? What shapes do you see? How did the shaving cream paint feel?
Shaving cream art
This shaving cream paint art project is inexpensive, you can get a can of shaving cream for just over a dollar around here, easy, and you probably have all the stuff around to make it work.
We used smocks because this is daycare and this is other people’s laundry, but if it were just my kids, I wouldn’t care about that. If I used food coloring instead of liquid watercolors, I would worry more about clothes though. The kids had a ton of fun with it, and it kept them entertained for quite a while which is a win for me.
Trying to fill up 10 hours a day with ways to keep kids busy can be challenging, so shaving cream paint is just the type of idea I like. And I feel like it was free play as well as teacher-directed because all I did was provide the materials and they got to do what they wanted.
Shaving cream crafts
What can you do with your finished shaving cream paint art besides hang it up to admire as is? You could also use this process to make wrapping paper, homemade cards, paper snowflakes, cut shapes out of it to glue on another sheet of paper, and more.
Use your imagination and you’ll think of a ton of things to make out of your marbled paper. Cover a journal, make bookmarks, or even mat a photo.
You could also do other activities with shaving cream such as a seek and find with small toys hidden in the shaving cream. Or you could use the shaving cream to wash the tabletop or some outside toys and then rinse it off.
And you can even put it in a gallon-size Ziplock bag and tape it to the table to explore without the mess. Kids love squishing it around. This would be especially good for younger kids like babies.
For more kids activities, check out our art party ideas and other ideas on the blog:
- Mess Free Tape Resist Paint Activity for Kids
- Yarn Painting for Kids
