Our Favorite Sensory Activity: Shaving Cream

Would you ever believe me if I told you that my kids will literally play with shaving cream for hours? And that we can do it a couple times a week and they are still just as interested? Shaving cream sensory play may just be my favorite sensory activity.

Why Shaving Cream?

We first learned about shaving cream as sensory play from my daughter’s preschool. They had a day where they played with plastic animals in shaving cream and her teachers commented on how much fun she had. Then the pandemic hit and preschool became virtual. While this was great, there was only so much the teachers could do virtually and we knew our daughter was missing out on sensory play. So we broke out some sensory play at home and “bathed” some animals.

Overcoming Sensory Aversions

When we first started this, our son absolutely hated touching it. He would get frustrated when he got it on his hands and then didn’t have the fine motor skills to wipe it off himself. More often than not he would end up with more on him while trying to get clean. This led to frustration and sensory overload for him so we tried to find a way to help him overcome this. The next time we played, we specifically tried to “bathe” dinosaurs as he loved them but he was still overwhelmed. Finally, we had an idea… he absolutely loves to build.

Using Shaving Cream as Mortar

We purchased some foam blocks and decided to try to build some buildings the next time we played with shaving cream. This turned out to be an absolute hit with our daughter and as for our son he started coming around. At first he just stacked the foam blocks on the same table. Then slowly, he started to dip his block into the shaving cream and it allowed him to build taller stacks of blocks. Eventually, he was able to touch the shaving cream and use it to build and later “bathe” some animals too.

Versatility

Part of what is so enjoyable about this sensory activity is that we can change up how we play. Some days we just want to wash animals but most days we love to build new creations. The foam blocks have built houses, castles, beds, bridges, tunnels, and even robots. We have tried a few different shaving cream brands but by far our favorite has been Nivea – it tends to leave little to no residue on the blocks and also allows for buildings to return to for play again the next day.

Potential Extra Activity

One thing that is great about playing this is that in order to wash the blocks after you are done, just toss them in the next bath with the children. They will love to play with them in the bath and build more and this will also clean the blocks. Foam blocks are made for water play so why not extend the fun, sometimes they can even get them to stick to the wall!