Fun with Foam Dough

A fun activity that you can do with your kids is having them play with shaving cream. I got this idea to make foam dough from a website, and I saw that I had most of the ingredients at home. So, I decided why not do something hands-on with my baby. According to the Early Learning website, what you would need for materials and how to make the foam dough is;

• Shaving cream
• Cornstarch
• Food coloring (optional)
• Cups, spoons, bowls, playdough toys, etc. (optional)

Step 1: There’s only one step! Just pour any amount of cornstarch and squirt about the same amount of shaving cream on top of the cornstarch (you can add more of either if you need to as you mix it until you get a moldable dough). Then just mix it by squishing it with your fingers (my daughter really loved this part!).  You can also add some food coloring if you want to add some color. That’s it! Super easy. Super quick. Super fun! Enjoy!

Getting Started

Before I brought out the cornstarch, we got our hands dirty and played with the shaving cream first. We didn’t have any food coloring, and we also didn’t use any playdough toys, but I did decide to use a glass dish to contain the mess (or so I thought). Forgetting that I am dealing with a three-year-old little girl. She was so excited to be doing something new. I loved seeing the excitement on her face.

I got her Minnie Mouse table and put the shaving cream on there (remember, if you’re thinking about doing this, a little goes a long way). We made all kinds of smiley faces and flowers on the table. When I brought in the dish and the cornstarch, let’s just say things got very messy. My little nugget thought she could get the the shaving cream and cornstarch everywhere. Making the dough was not as hard as I thought it would be, and once the dough was made, she really got excited.

Why did I do this?

I know what you’re thinking… Why would you do something this messy with your toddler? I thought about doing this activity because I always love to do things with my baby. No matter if it’s sensory activities or just about anything that might make her face light up. I like to get her brain going and get her to do crazy things when we’re cooped up in the house. A perfect alternative instead of being in front of the tv all day. We usually go outside, but I haven’t really felt like going out there (maybe it was the cicadas, haha). I feel like being able to do indoor as well as outdoor activities is always a plus.

Sensory activities are always great play for kids. The child can use their senses during this play. According to Playgroup Queensland, shaving cream is a textural wonderland that changes and reforms in your hands. Shaving cream encourages children to manipulate and mold materials, building their fine motor skills and coordination.

What should you know before starting this activity?

If I had known then what I have learned now, I would have planned for this extensively. This activity gets very messy. Especially, when you’re dealing with a toddler, who loves making a messes. It gets everywhere from the couch, on you, to her hair. It’s not as easy as you think to get the mess out of things either. Be prepared to do some scrubbing once you’re all done.

I would suggest getting using a bigger table for this activity also. My baby’s toddler table wasn’t nearly as big as it needed to be, it made getting the ingredients on the floor very easy. If you can, try to put some plastic under the table. That way you can just remove the table and throw the plastic along with the mess away. Word of advice if you do get it on the floor, be careful not to sweep the floor. This will cause the ingredients to get in between the spaces of your floors and will make it very hard to get it out.

Below I posted a picture an hour after I had cleaned up. When I tell you that I scrubbed the floors and it didn’t make a difference. The floor literally looked like I never did anything, like we’re playing with it on the floor. It took a lot of scrubbing with a bucket and a scrub brush to finally get it up. So just be cautious before starting this activity, but with that being said I am very happy that we did it.