Shaving Cream Rainbow {Messy Sensory Play}

Embracing messy sensory play is challenging for me.  I absolutely dread the clean up.  However, I am trying to let go a bit more and push myself outside of my comfort zone, especially since I have noticed how much the boys enjoy it (for instance, our edible sludge).  

This giant shaving cream rainbow sensory play for kids is one of those times where even I was pushed outside of my comfort zone.

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I also have not used shaving cream as a sensory material before.  Cue gasps.  It's shocking, I know.  Anyway, I decided to embrace the mess and the shaving cream on a grand scale and created this giant shaving cream rainbow.

Let the Kids Get Messy with this Giant Rainbow Sensory Play Idea

To create the giant rainbow, I used seven cans of shaving cream.  I bought mine at the dollar store so it cost me less than $10.  

I then dyed the shaving cream using food coloring and liquid watercolors.  The orange and blue were dyed with liquid watercolors as they happen to be the only two colors I have on hand.  I am buying them one at a time with the 40% coupon from Michaels, so it's taking me awhile!  Don't judge...haha.  Anyway, I found that the shaving cream that was colored using the liquid watercolors was much more vibrant.

After spending twenty minutes with help from K, the entire rainbow was colored and set up on a tarp in our backyard.  Then J complained he wasn't feeling well, only to end up with a stomach bug less than an hour later!  So I had to abandon all of our hard work, leaving the shaving cream rainbow out in the sun for over 24 hours.  The colors intensified, but the shaving cream looked all weird...

But it was still delightful to play in.

And it was lovely to see all the colors swirl together into a glossy, sparkly mixture.

The fun did not stop there however.  

In order to keep the tarp from flipping over from the wind overnight, I had set some of our outdoor toys on the edge of the tarp.  In one corner was our climber and slide.  

So soon our shaving cream rainbow because a messy, slippery slide of goodness.  And boy, did the boys ever have fun with this part!  The smiles and laughter could no longer be contained.  It was validating for me to see their happiness, especially since messy play is so not my thing.  But these smiles are just so worth embracing the mess.  Don't you think?

And since we were already outside, clean up was a breeze!  I just hosed them off right there.

Other Ideas You'll Love

Summer Scented Soap Foam

Edible Sludge

Tie Dye Soap Foam