Calming Lavender Soap Foam Sensory Play

Looking for calming sensory activities for kids? Then you need to try this calming lavender soap foam sensory play activity.

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While lavender isn't my favorite scent, it is known for its calming benefits. It's a scent that can help kids (and adults!) wind down at the end of the day.

For this sensory activity, I decided to pair the calming scent of lavender with one of our favorite sensory bin materials: soap foam.

Now, if you've never played with soap foam before, you're missing out. I personally find the texture of soap foam to be calming and soothing. It's bubbly and silky feeling. And it's a great sensory material for kids who actively avoid gritty and rough textures such as sand.

So grab some liquid soap and get ready to try this calming lavender soap foam sensory play activity. It's great for kids of all ages and ridiculously easy to make.

Lavender Soap Foam Sensory Play: What You'll Need

For this lavender soap foam sensory bin, you'll need:

• Liquid soap

• Lavender essential oil

• Purple liquid watercolor or food coloring

• Electric hand-mixer, stand mixer, or blender

• Large sensory bin container

Before we can put the sensory bin together, we'll need to whip up some lavender scented soap foam. Don't worry, it's quick and easy to do!

How to Make Lavender Soap Foam for Sensory Play

Start by putting a big squirt of soap (I use castile soap) in a large container. Next, add a splash or two of water. Then start mixing the soap and water using an electric hand-mixer until you get a thick, frothy foam.

If you're using a blender or stand mixer, add the water and soap to the blender or the stand mixer bowl and mix it up until foamy.

Once you have the soap foam mixture, add a couple of drops of lavender essential oil and some purple liquid watercolors. Then mix it one last time. How much you will use depends on the size of the container and how purple you want the soap foam to be. So just eyeball it.

And that's it! You'll end up with a lovely foamy concoction like this:

This Lavender Soap Foam is a Wonderful Calming Sensory Activity for Kids!

You could certainly add some scoops and spoons to this sensory bin. But, honestly, both of my boys really enjoy just playing with the texture of the soap foam, swishing the bubbly mixture back and forth between their hands. Keeping things simple goes a long way!

Seriously, soap foam on its own is extremely calming and relaxing to play with. It's such a satisfying texture, in my opinion (and as I discussed earlier). But the vibrant purple hue and the added olfactory component? It really elevates things.

Just look at all those wonderful bubbles! You can almost touch it right through the screen...Honestly, I think I could seriously play with soap foam all day. So could my kids, I bet.

So that's our lavender soap foam sensory play activity. Are you going to give it a try?

Cinnamon Soap Foam Sensory Play

This cinnamon soap foam sensory play recipe makes for a great base for a construction sensory bin for toddlers and preschoolers.

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Of all the soap foam sensory bins that we have made and played with over the years, I think my favorite might be this cinnamon one.

Not only does this sensory bin smell amazing, but the cinnamon gives the soap foam a really unique texture and look. It almost looks like sand, making it a great sensory bin filler for construction themed sensory bins.

So, if you're looking to switch things up and try something new, this cinnamon soap foam sensory play activity might be just what you need. You can let kids explore it on its own or pair it with some vehicles - anything goes!

Cinnamon Soap Foam Sensory Play Activity: What You'll Need

This sensory bin comes together super quick and smells delicious (although please don't eat it). Here's what you'll need to recreate it yourself:

• Soap foam - Made from mixing liquid soap with a splash of water and whipped until bubbly and foaming.

• Ground cinnamon - Add a few sprinkles and mix it up. Continue to add more cinnamon until the soap foam looks a bit like dirt. How much you use will depend on how much soap foam you make.

• Construction trucks and/or tractor toys (something like these would work great) - Optional, but fun.

To make the soap foam, simply combine liquid hand soap with a splash of water and mix thoroughly using a hand mixer, electric mixer, or stand mixer. Whip until foamy and bubbly. Then add a generous amount of cinnamon and mix until well incorporated.

Alternatively, you can use a foaming hand soap dispenser to make soap foam and then add the cinnamon afterwards. My boys like this method because they like to pump the soap dispenser. However, this method usually takes a bit longer to fill your sensory bin container, especially if you are using a large container.

Since the cinnamon soap foam ends up looking like fluffy dirt or sand, I decided to pair it with some tractors and a construction truck. After all, I really think that this soap foam would be a great base for a construction themed sensory bin.

A Simple Construction Sensory Bin Idea with Cinnamon Soap Foam "Dirt"

Both of my boys really enjoyed the addition of tractors to the sensory bin. They especially loved driving the tractors through the soap foam so that their wheels would get all dirty.

And they also loved "washing" the tractors with the soap foam (their words, obviously). But considering the base of this sensory bin is soap, the vehicles are sort of getting cleaned...right?

Speaking of cleaning, here's an easy clean up tip for this sensory bin. Keep a bucket of clean water and a towel handy so that kids can clean their hands (or toys!) along the way. I also like to use a shower curtain underneath all of our sensory bins to help contain the mess. Then you can toss the shower curtain into the washing machine for easy clean up!

Overall, this cinnamon soap foam sensory play activity was a huge hit. It smelled amazing and was tons of fun for both of my boys.

Soap Foam Dough {Sensory Dough Recipe for Kids}

How to make soap foam dough - a fun homemade play dough alternative for kids! It's a great sensory dough recipe for kids of all ages.

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We have created a new favorite sensory dough recipe: soap foam dough! 

This soap foam dough quickly became a favorite of my youngest son's. It is moldable like play dough, but snaps cleanly like silly putty. 

It is super simple to make, uses only two ingredients (or three if you want colored dough), and takes only a few minutes to prepare. 

It uses ingredients you likely already have on hand, requires no cooking, and is easy to clean up since it just melts when water is added to it. 

Intrigued yet? 

I know you are. 

What is Soap Foam Dough?

Soap foam dough grew out of my kids' love for soap foam sensory bins. It makes a lovely alternative to play dough and is way easier to make. Like I mentioned above, there's no cooking involved, like traditional play dough. There's also no weird ingredients that you might not have on hand (like cream of tartar).

It's just a simple homemade play dough alternative that's a fun sensory experience for kids.

My three year old wanted to make red, purple, and green dough. Isn't it lovely?

But what is really neat about soap foam dough is that it snaps cleanly like silly putty.

Since soap foam dough can snap in half like it does, it makes it the perfect sensory dough for exploring fractions. Or for stacking.

The dough looks even more pretty when the different colors are combined. The end result is a beautiful marbled dough.

This dough cleans up really easily since it is made with soap, but before cleaning up, why not turn the soap foam dough into some colorful, messy oobleck. Simply add some water to the soap foam dough until it has an oobleck like texture (usually it's a 1:1 ratio of water and cornstarch).

Ready to make soap foam dough? Find out how to make this sensory dough below.

How to Make Soap Foam Dough - A Fun Sensory Dough for Kids!

This soap foam dough is just one of the beautiful activities you can find in my book Pop! Squirt! Splash!, but to give you a little taste of what you will find in the book, I will show you how to make this beautiful dough.

To make soap foam dough, you will need:

• 2 cups of foaming hand soap (or make your own soap foam)
• 3/4 cup of cornstarch
• 1/4 tbsp of liquid watercolors (optional)

To make soap foam dough, combine the foaming hand soap with the liquid watercolors in a bowl. I actually make my own foaming hand soap with castile soap. Slowly add the cornstarch. Mix and knead the dough until it is smooth. You may need to sprinkle up to 1/2 tbsp more cornstarch into the dough or add extra soap if needed. It should not be sticky and the dough should snap in half when you put pressure on the ball of dough. Here's a video tutorial for making the dough:

Other Sensory Dough Recipes to Try

Edible Sludge Sensory Play

Sand Foam Dough

Erupting Soap Foam Dough

Love this activity? Well, you can find it and many more wonderful hands-on activities for kids in the brand new book Pop! Squirt! Splash! Hands-on Activities for Kids Using Soap, Water, & Bubbles! Or take a peek at these other fabulous activities:

Soap Shaving Bookmark from Sugar Aunts

Hands-on Activities Using Soap, Water, & Bubbles from Where Imagination Grows

Water Play: Sorting Land & Water Animals from Still Playing School

Floating Soap Boats from Fireflies & Mudpies

DIY Angry Birds Knock Down Game from Lalymom

Gross Motor Color Mixing from House of Burke

Jell-O Soap Foam Sensory Play from Fun-A-Day!

Soap Cloud Painting from Mamas Like Me

Sparkle Soap Foam Sensory Play

When we need a quick and easy sensory activity for my kids, we always end up playing with soap foam. My kids just love the texture of it (so do I!) and it's really versatile. You can add all sorts of things to it, such as colors, scents, glitter, or other objects, to make an endless range of sensory bins. 

Since St. Patrick's Day was quickly approaching, I put together a St. Patrick's Day inspired sensory bin for the kids using green "sparkles" in the soap foam. However, it isn't specifically a St. Patrick's Day activity, simply because you could make the sparkles any color you wanted. We just chose green to go with the holiday.

Regardless, kids will love swirling their hands through this sparkle soap foam sensory bin.

Easy Sensory Bin for Kids: Make Sparkle Soap Foam!

For this sensory bin idea, we used:

• Soap foam - Mix a splash of water with liquid soap until you get a big bin of bubbles. We prefer to use castile soap when making our soap foam sensory bins.

• Sequins - I picked these up at Dollar Tree and we chose green to make this a St. Patrick's Day sensory bin.

Once your bin is filled with lots and lots of frothy soap bubbles, scatter the sequins throughout. It's so sparkly and gorgeous!

Naturally, the kids couldn't wait to dive in and swirl the bubbles around and around. The addition of the sequins gave the soap foam a neat texture.

The boys started scooping for the sequins since after awhile, they get buried underneath the soap. It isn't that easy to pick up the sequins! But it is certainly a good fine motor challenge for the kids.

See how the sequins hide under the soap?

And sometimes you can find a sweet spot in the sensory bin to scoop up a big handful of sequins!

Other Ideas You'll Love

50 Non-Food Sensory Bin Fillers {Free Printable}

How to Dye Sensory Bin Materials

25 Soap Foam Sensory Activities for Kids

Fall Leaves Sensory Bin with Soap Foam

Looking for fall sensory activities for kids? Try this simple fall leaves sensory bin with soap foam.

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We've done our fair share of fall sensory bins over the years using a variety of materials such as water and popcorn kernels. This one, however, uses soap foam as the base.

Now, if you haven't made a sensory bin with soap foam before, you're seriously missing out. It's easily one of our favorite sensory bin fillers. The texture is silky smooth and incredibly calming to play with. 

Soap foam is also very versatile. You can simply toss in some scent, a little bit of color, a dash of glitter, and/or small materials or decorations to customize soap foam to fit any theme or season you can think of. Much like we did here with this fall leaves sensory bin.

So if you're looking for a simple yet fun autumn sensory play idea, then look no further than this activity.

A version of this post originally appeared on the CBC Parents website.

What You Need for this Autumn Sensory Play Activity

For this fall leaf sensory bin, we used:

• Liquid soap - To make our soap foam (instructions below)

• Acrylic leaves table scatter - You can find these at Michael's, but many dollar stores now carry them as well. You could use foam leaves if you'd prefer or if that's what you have on hand.

• Small bucket of water (optional)

• Towel (optional)

First, we need to make some soap foam. How much you will need will depend on the size of your sensory bin container so feel free to start with a small amount and make more as needed.

To make the soap foam, mix a generous amount of liquid soap (you can use dish soap or something like castile soap) with a splash or two of water. Use a blender, stand mixer, hand mixer, or whisk to mix the soap and water together until it's a thick, frothy bubble foam.

Once your soap foam is made, you can add other things such as food coloring or liquid watercolors, essential oils, or even glitter to make it more interesting. This step is optional. We kept our soap foam plain. However, we used almond scented castile soap so our soap foam was already lightly scented.

Then simply add the acrylic fall leaves to the soap foam and it's ready for play. It should look something like this:

Whenever we do soap foam bins, I like to include a small bucket and towel off to the side for quick and easy clean up. However, this step is optional.

Time to Play with Soap Foam in this Fall Leaves Sensory Bin!

My two boys started off by swirling their hands around in the soap foam, trying to bury all the leaves as quickly as they could. And it wasn't long before all the leaves disappeared into the bubbly foam...

So the boys started digging around in the foam to try and find the leaves that they buried. It was like a fall treasure hunt!

Once they found some leaves, they would pull them out and drop them into the bucket of clean water. Then they would proceed to dry them off with a towel. Talk about sneaking in some practical life skills!

The boys continued to scoop out the leaves to wash and dry them until they were sure no other leaves were remaining in the bin. It certainly kept them busy for quite some time. Especially since some of the leaves can end up quite hidden!

Well, what do you think? Will you be giving this fall leaves sensory bin with soap foam a try?

25 Soap Foam Sensory Activities for Kids

Perhaps you have noticed that we have gone a little soap foam crazy lately. Pop! Squirt! Splash! is partly to blame and, well, my three year old loves the stuff. He just can't seem to get enough of it. Soap foam is great to play with as an alternative to using food items in sensory bins. It is also great because it cleans up so easily. After all, it is soap! Finally, soap foam is great because it is versatile. You can make as much or as little as you want. You can dye it, scent it, paint with it, turn it into dough, make it bubble and fizz, and so much more! Here's 25 awesome ways for kids to play and learn with soap foam!

Sensory Bins, Bottles, & Small Worlds with Soap Foam

Basic Soap Foam Recipe from Fun at Home With Kids

Minion Soap Foam (pictured)

Soapy Sea Foam from Twodaloo

Soap Foam Dough (pictured)

Rainbow Soap Foam from Fun at Home With Kids (pictured)

Alligator Bubbling Swamp Small World with Soap Foam

Soap Foam Sensory Bottle from Teaching Mama

Bathtime Inspired Light Table Play with Soap Foam

Glitter Soap Foam from My Nearest and Dearest (pictured)

Soap Foam Car Wash Bin from Kitchen Floor Crafts

Watermelon Soap Foam

Tie Dye Soap Foam

Ivory Soap Foam from Little Bins for Little Hands

Scented Soap Foam

Cinnamon Soap Foam 

Summer Scented Soap Foam

Jell-O Soap Foam from Fun-A-Day! (pictured)

Apple Scented Soap Foam from Learn Play Imagine (pictured)

Chocolate Soap Foam (pictured)

Calming Scented Soap Foam from Teaching Mama (pictured)

Arts, Crafts, & Learning Activities with Soap Foam

Soap Foam Printing from Fireflies & Mudpies (pictured)

Soap Foam Letter Painting (pictured)

Color Mixing with Soap Foam from Teaching Mama

Fine Motor Workout with Soap Foam from Sugar Aunts

Soap Foam Bath Paints

Soap Foam Sidewalk Paint from Teaching Mama (pictured)