Sand Foam Dough Sensory Play

We like to experiment with a variety of textures and sensory materials. As a result, we like to create and play with different sensory doughs. This homemade sand foam dough sensory play recipe is super simple to make. It's also perfect for ocean or beach themed sensory bins!

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Sensory Play Idea for Kids: Make Sand Foam Dough!

Our giant shaving cream rainbow sensory play was a huge success and I ended up with some unused shaving cream.  So I came up with this new beach-inspired sensory dough using the leftover can of shaving cream.  It's crumbly, yet smooth.  It can also be molded into shapes.  It behaves similar to our other cloud dough recipes (see here and here), but the shaving cream gives it a creamy texture.

I paired our new sand foam sensory dough with some sea shells and some Safari Ltd. ocean figures to set up this pretty little ocean themed invitation.

The boys loved to squish the shells into the sand foam dough.  J was very thoughtful with his shell placement, carefully describing the placement of "one shell here and another shell over here."  

K, being a toddler and all, favored the foam dough more so than the sea shells.  He loved to squish it with his hands, scoop it up, and roll it into balls.  He kept asking me to take pictures of all his little rolled creations.  Of course, I obliged because he was so darn proud of making the balls all by himself.  Don't worry, I'm not going to bombard you with all of those photos.

J enjoyed rolling the sand foam dough too, but preferred to make a loose ball to poke with shells or to fill the shells with the dough itself.

How to Make Sand Foam Dough for Sensory Play

This sand foam dough was so cool to play with!  You can try it out yourself, using this recipe.

• 1 cup of shaving cream
• 1/3 cup of clean play sand
• 2/3 cup of cornstarch (cornflour in the UK)

Mix all of the ingredients together until the mixture is able to form into a ball.  Then play away!

Other Ideas You'll Love

Soap Foam Dough

Chocolate Soap Foam

Edible Sludge