Earth Day Sensory Play with Shaving Cream
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This is going to sound completely corny, but I actually came up with this activity from a dream. I had been trying to figure out a Earth Day sensory play idea to do with Ellie for this week and thankfully my dream came up with it for me. This is a really simple Earth Day sensory play activity with shaving cream.
Earth Day Sensory Play Shaving Cream Activity
What you need:
- Shaving Cream
- Blue and green food coloring (all natural options here)
- A medium size cookie sheet (one with sides is ideal; ignore the stains on mine, haha).
- Large wooden task tray
- 2 medium wooden bowls
- 2 containers of Safari Toob animals or something similar (we used Ocean and North America Animals)
- Washi tape
Optional:
- Bowl to hold water so your child can wash the animals when they are done
- Medium size towel for clean up
- Cooking or craft brush for those who don't want to get their hands in the shaving cream
- Child size activity apron (ours is HERE, or you can find a similar one on Amazon).
Activity Set-Up:
To set this up, I took a long piece of washi tape and divided the cookie sheet into two parts. Then I squeezed two small piles of shaving cream, one on each side of the tape.
Next, I added blue food coloring to one and green to the other and had Ellie help me mix it up.
Place the cookie sheet on top of your large wooden tray with the two bowls of animals near by. One bowl would have the sea animals and one the land animals.
For the activity we talked about which animals live in the ocean and which live on land. Then I encouraged Ellie to match the animals correctly after modeling it to her.
And of course, what is shaving cream play without getting messy. So you may want to do this one outside if it's a nice day, OR place a large blanket that you don't mind getting messy on the table. I also had Ellie in a large kid's activity apron.
Activity Adaptations:
If you have a child who does not want to get their hands in the shaving cream, you can still encourage them to participate by using the cooking brush to mix the food coloring in with the shaving cream and spreading it on the cookie sheet. They will still get the smell from the shaving cream and maybe you can encourage them to use their hands as they go along.
For a younger child, or someone who may need the extra prompt of which animals live on the land or water, place the appropriate bowl of animals next to the corresponding side, instead of having both bowls on one side.
To challenge an older child, place the bowl of animals opposite of which color they belong on. This will encourage some good crossing midline skills as they pick up the animals from one side and then place them on the correct color shaving cream on the opposite side.
Optional Christian Addition:
I took this opportunity to also share with Ellie that God made ocean animals on the 5th day of Creation and land animals on the 6th day. We also talked about the verse in the Bible where God instructs Adam to live in the garden and take care of it. This means that even though God made the earth for us to enjoy, it is also our responsibility to take care of it.
“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Genesis 2:15″
And for more Sensory ideas, be sure to follow my Sensory Fun Pinterest board.
Heather Greutman, COTA
Heather Greutman is a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant with experience in school-based OT services for preschool through high school. She uses her background to share child development tips, tools, and strategies for parents, educators, and therapists. She is the author of many ebooks including The Basics of Fine Motor Skills, and Basics of Pre-Writing Skills, and co-author of Sensory Processing Explained: A Handbook for Parents and Educators.
This is a great activity for Earth Day and any other day in fact. I homeschool a 5 year old boy and he loves hands on activities that get messy (shocking right?).
I’ve given him colored shaving cream before to “paint” in the bath tub before, so I think he’d love this. Thanks for the idea and I like the Christian spin on it too!
A fun and easy to prepare earth day sensory experience!
Thanks very much Katrina, hope your son enjoys it!