I love setting up easy sensory plays for X on the mornings that S at preschool. Given our love of rainbows around here, I decided to make him his very own rainbow, complete with fluffy clouds.
The big puffy clouds were a huge draw.
As he dug in, he looked at the separate pieces of the rainbow. Though X isn't working on his colors yet, it would be a good way to have fun practicing them with an older toddler. Just for good measure I did say the name of each color as he inspected it. :)
He had so much fun smooshing the fluffy clouds and mixing up the rainbow arcs.
Happy boy. :)
To make your own, you'll need foam sheets in all the colors of the rainbow. This rainbow was pretty big, so I used the Large 12 x 18 Foam Sheets
- but if you have smaller foam sheets
, such as those from the Dollar Tree, you could always tape them together. Because X is way past the mouthing phase, I used shaving cream to make the clouds. I just sprayed some onto the table at either end of the rainbow and used a spoon to smooth it out. If your child is still "tasting" Cool Whip would be a great substitute, albeit messier to clean up (maybe you'd want to move the play to a bathtub or onto a splat mat). Uncolored shaving cream, despite appearances, is amazingly easy to clean up. It doesn't stain anything, and it deflates over time - it makes for a very easy and quick clean up, I promise. :)
- but if you have smaller foam sheets
, such as those from the Dollar Tree, you could always tape them together. Because X is way past the mouthing phase, I used shaving cream to make the clouds. I just sprayed some onto the table at either end of the rainbow and used a spoon to smooth it out. If your child is still "tasting" Cool Whip would be a great substitute, albeit messier to clean up (maybe you'd want to move the play to a bathtub or onto a splat mat). Uncolored shaving cream, despite appearances, is amazingly easy to clean up. It doesn't stain anything, and it deflates over time - it makes for a very easy and quick clean up, I promise. :)
Because the rainbow arcs are made of foam, they are completely reusable. You could use them as window or bath art (like our Reusable Hearts Set), and you could even set this invitation up on a bathtub wall!
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All activities here are activities I feel are safe for my own children. As your child's parents/guardians, you will need to decide what you feel is safe for your family. I always encourage contacting your child's pediatrician for guidance if you are not sure about the safety/age appropriateness of an activity. All activities on this blog are intended to be performed with adult supervision. Appropriate and reasonable caution should be used when activities call for the use of materials that could potentially be harmful, such as scissors, or items that could present a choking risk (small items), or a drowning risk (water activities), and with introducing a new food/ingredient to a child (allergies). Observe caution and safety at all times. The author and blog disclaim liability for any damage, mishap, or injury that may occur from engaging in any of these activities on this blog.
I love this!!! Definitely doing this with my son
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Breanna! I hope he loves it! :)
DeleteI thought this was SUCH a fun, easy idea. So I tried it with my 2.5 year old, he normally loves messes, but he was really turned off by the shaving cream. I was shocked! I tried several things -- I gave him scoops and cars. I showed him how the car could make a track. I buried the car in cream and tried to encourage him to "find" the car. He wasn't fooled.
ReplyDeleteTHEN, I was cleaning it up, and I wiped the shaving cream across the baking pan we were playing on. It created a shallow "film" he could draw in, drive his cars in, etc. He LOVED it. He drew and played until the cream was gone :)
He's playing in it in the 12th picture down (the one a few above is of him being grossed out by the big pile of shaving cream!)
http://www.thekriegers.org/2014/03/winter/
Hahaha - well I'm so glad you figured out the shallow film! What a cutie! And great discovery - we haven't done car tracks with it, I'll have to try that with X - I'm sure he'll love it!!!
DeleteThis looks tons of fun!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Angela!
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