Halloween
SensoryToddlers31 Comments
Get goopy and messy with a fun Halloween shaving cream sensory activity for preschoolers and toddlers!
I love a good sensory activity! Halloween is a great time of year to get a little messy, too.
This fun Halloween shaving cream sensory activity is the perfect combo of messy fun and holiday spirit!
Easy Halloween Shaving Cream Sensory Activity
Sensory activities are such a fun way to help little ones explore and learn.
George and I had a little time while Henry was at school, so we decided to discover color mixing with a fun sensory activity!
This one is pretty simple. It’s just shaving cream on a baking sheet.
I added food coloring in orange, red, and yellow to add some Halloween spirit!
George was very hesitant to touch it at first. Until he held out his hand and I squirted the shaving cream directly in his hand, he wouldn’t touch what was in the pan.
That opened the gate though. He was all about the slimy shaving cream then!
As he was playing, I added some school glue (affiliate link) to the mix. This made it a little stickier, slightly a different texture.
It also made it into puffy paint.
I grabbed some scrapbook paper in Halloween colors. Orange, yellow and white.
Then, I showed George how to transfer the shaving cream and paint it with his hands.
That was even messier fun for him! George spent a lot of time on the first paper.
Globbing on the shaving cream. Smearing it around. Exploring it further.
Once the first one was covered though, he asked for another piece of paper.
Then it became a game. To cover it all with shaving cream, as fast as he could, smearing it quickly to all the corners.
Then he handed it to me. Asking for “More!”
Lots and lots of paper got shaving cream smeared all over.
Lots and lots of George got smeared all over as well with shaving cream! He was pretty much covered from head to toe.
Cleaning up was fun!
Here are my Top 10 Indoor Activities for Toddlers to play!
However, once we got all cleaned up in a new change of clothes, I remembered I wanted to add a little glitter to the papers while the shaving cream was still wet.
George dove into it and sprinkled glitter all over. He only got slightly messy this time at least!
Yet later that day…. there was yet another change of clothing (stay tuned!). The fun he had with the shaving cream though made it so worth it!
How can you not love this, even when he’s a mess?
We’ve made shaving cream prints before, and cut them out for Easter eggs. With that method, we scraped off the shaving cream to leave a marbled effect from the food coloring.
This time we left the shaving cream, or puffy paint, on to dry.
What shall we make with our Halloween shaving cream papers?
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menna says
thank u so much, for such amazing ideas.
mo.hassaan says
I find this content more than wonderful and very useful
Alexis says
What a great idea! I’ll have to try this with my 2 year old. I love the idea of adding glue to change the texture.
Arturo Allred says
Great post !! Thank you so much for sharing this post, It’s amazing :)
Linsey O. says
If you don’t like the mess or trust the outcome of the craft (lol) then try a cheap(maybe dollar store) Plastic tablecloth. They are water proof and you can just fold them, roll them and throw them away. Plus you have the added benefits of using a table or floor. My mom always preferred the floor lol. Plastic tablecloths are synonymous w/ arts and crafts in my family ;)
P.S. Love this site, Happy and relieved to find it just as fall is coming our way :)
Jamie Reimer says
Thanks for the tip Linsey! Most of those tablecloths are a dollar! So great idea!
Kalea F says
Where do you do such messy activities so as not to make a mess of your house? Thanks!
Jamie says
lol. Right on my dining room table. The mess doesn’t bother me. But you could put down newspaper or a sheet or something to contain it and then just wrap it up and throw it away or throw it in the wash.
Ellie says
Hey! We finally got to try the shaving cream ghosts last night, my daughter (almost 4) LOVED it!!! She ended up with shaving cream up to her shoulders, then when getting ready for the tub it was all over her body!
Anyway, I also wanted to let you know that the shaving cream “paint” also sticks good on wax paper. It makes a white, somewhat translucent ghost, great for hanging in a window or from a doorway. It is more flimsy than construction or other kinds of paper, so if hanging from a doorway you might need 2+ strings to keep it looking nice and not so floppy. And might be harder for less experienced cutters, but we really liked the effect. Just thought we’d pass along the tip! Thanks for sharing all of your great ideas!
Jamie says
Ellie – that’s an awesome idea! Thanks for sharing that with me. I’m curious, does it peel off the wax paper? or did you leave it on?
Ellie says
The shaving cream paint is not substantial enough to hold up on it’s own, it doesn’t really peel off the wax paper. We just cut out the ghost shape as you would if it were a piece of regular paper. But it would be cool to find a material that would hold up on it’s own to peel off the paper then stick on a window or something… Hmmm… wheels are turning!
Karen Ghidella says
You have such great activities! We’ve used shaving cream and I recently coloured custard in an effort to make it look like the ocean – I never thought of colouring shaving cream.
Jennifer O'Brien says
You might want to warn people the food coloring will stain skin.
Jamie says
We’ve never had issues with the food coloring staining when its mixed with other stuff. It does stain skin when there’s direct contact, but it always comes off. I just see it as a normal side effect of being hands on with the kids. My fingers are always covered in color anyway from decorating cakes, so I never thought of it! Thanks :)
jen says
it was super fun and worth the mess, but i had a tough time getting it off skin. really had to scrub, which my little guy wasn’t a fan of. overall it was totally worth it, just had no experience with food coloring before and so thought a warning for novices would be helpful. thanks though and your site is great!
Jackie @ Happy Hooligans says
That photo of the glitter in the shaving cream looks so pretty. You could turn the paper into so many different things. I’m thinking I would make a hallowe’en bunting (we’ve never made buntings before, but they always look so pretty).
Vicky says
I was going to make shaving cream pumpkins this weekend so my vote is for pumpkins. Pinning this cute idea onto my sensory board.
Sarah says
We put shaving cream on the walls of the bathtub and have the kids draw in it and practice their shapes and letters. Never thought of mixing in food coloring! Thanks for the idea!