Preschool Project: Shaving Cream Pictures

I found this idea posted on Pinterest and followed the link to Getting Messy with Ms. Jessie. Then I tried it with my favorite Tuesday kids.

Here is how it goes:

Supplies:

• trays
• shaving cream (in a tolerable fragrance)
• paint (just a few colors) liquid water color paint
• bottles with control tops or eye droppers
• water color paper
• coffee stir sticks or popsicle sticks
• squeegee
• towel (rags)

First step: shaving cream foundation
Spray some shaving cream on the tray, and let it foam up.

Then take the squeegee and smooth the foam out. It should evenly cover the whole surface.
Using a dropper, or a controlled flow bottle, let the kids drip a few drops of color across the surface of the shaving cream. Then offer a stir stick, and have them just draw a few lines or swirls through the drops of paint.


Gently lay the paper down on the top of the paint/cream layer. Very gently rub the paper so that there is contact with the foam/paint all the way across.

Then, carefully lift the paper off.

There will be a lot of cream that comes up too. Put it down on another tray, or flat surface.

Run the squeegee over the top of the painting, and reveal the awesome painting underneath.

The shaving cream tends to get all over if you are doing this with lots of kids in succession. Some of the little people are really into that aspect and are tempted to even dip their fingers directly in. Other kids will stop dead in their tracks if any of the shaving cream accidentally gets on them. It is a deal breaker. To help with the whole range of sensory styles, I had a damp towel on hand to quickly wipe any offending foam away.

These projects really came out well. The randomness of each picture was beautiful. I recommend limiting the color selection, so that things maintain some harmony. But lots of different color combinations would be really beautiful.
Have fun.
Happy kid crafting!