I’m excited to share how to make shaving cream puffy paint. This was an activity that was tested by my 14-month-old and 3-year-old boys and it definitely received the check mark of approval! Shaving cream puffy paint not only has an amazingly soft, squishy texture but it smells nice too!
There are many derivatives of the puffy paint recipe but I was inspired by an image on Pinterest posted by One Little Project. We changed it up just a little bit and used paint for the color (instead of food coloring).
As I’ve shared previously, Toddler E is a sensory seeker and anything I can find to keep his little hands busy is a win-win in our household so we try out different sensory activities! I also know the struggle to find activities that are easy enough to do with multiple kiddos.
Ingredients Needed
- Shaving Cream (we used the Wal-Mart brand)
- White School Glue (we used the Wal-Mart brand)
- Washable Paints
- Paper
- Paint Brushes (optional)
- Plastic Cups (optional)
How to Make It
I used plastic cups which made clean up super easy. I put a generous amount of shaving cream in the cup.
Pour an equivalent amount of white school glue on top of the shaving cream. You really can’t mess this up so don’t worry about an exact measurement. I would say I used about 2-3 tablespoons of glue.
Add a dollop of washable paint. We used Crayola Washable Kid’s Paint just because that’s what we have on hand. But make it work for you – if you have food coloring, use that instead.
Stir the mixture. I used a plastic straw to mix it all together. Add more paint if you want more color intensity.
Here’s an up close photo of the texture of my own art – this puffy paint will make you want to try too!
Time For Fun
We used construction paper and Toddler E started exploring with a paintbrush and then jumped in for the sensory experience of squishing and hand-painting.
Tips
- Use plastic cups and a plastic spoon/straw to stir – helps keep clean up fast!
- A roll of white wrapping paper (from the Dollar Tree) was perfect for our purposes – both boys could paint at the same time and then it was easy cleanup!
- Be careful if you do this with a younger child – my little one wanted to taste the puffy paint a couple of times so I had to be watchful and keep his hands out of his mouth.
Final Thoughts
The puffy paint texture is fun, a little messy but clean up was very quick and easy. We mixed up another batch of shaving cream puffy paint a few days later since the boys enjoyed it so much and we still had left over supplies. For older kids, it is probably a lot of fun to create puffy paint artwork. For my younger kids, they painted for a few minutes with brushes but then just wanted to explore the texture with their hands.
Now that you know how to make shaving cream puffy paint give it a whirl and let me know how it goes!
This looks like so much fun! I know my three-year-old twins would like to play with shaving cream puffy paint. I can also definitely see the 13-month-old trying to eat it, Ha ha ha!
Lol!! It was fun – we didn’t end up with much artwork to show for it but the process was exciting! I’m just as much of a kid when it comes to stuff like this! ;)
Caleb would just eat this right now but I’ll definitely have to remember it for when he’s older! :-)
I know exactly how that is! ;) It is something fun to try when he gets a bit bigger. Have a great weekend Susannah!
This is so fun! It looks like your boys had a good time! And I love the idea of using white wrapping paper from the dollar store! I need some of that!
Chelsea
http://www.lifewithmylittles.com
Thank you so much, Chelsea! It was fun and we’ve gotten a lot of use out of that roll of paper! I get really excited finding things at the dollar store for arts and crafts.