Easy Sensory Play - Shaving Cream and Bubble Wrap

Do your kids LOVE sensory play?
Do they love squishing their hands through something gooey and slippery and slimy?

Sensory play is so good for our kids, but sometimes it seems like such a huge, messy, time consuming production, that we just can’t face it, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Here is one of the quickest, easiest, sensory play set ups you’ll ever try…

This simple sensory play set up requires two things… bubble wrap and shaving cream.

Here’s how we set it up in less than 3 minutes…

You’ll Need:

a table or area on the floor
bubble wrap
shaving cream
tape – optional but recommended
paint, liquid water colours, or food colouring – optional but fun
a smock, apron, or naked child!

Tape the bubble wrap to the table or floor to stop it moving around. The bubble wrap adds and extra sensory dimension to this activity, but it is what happens at the end that makes the bubble wrap really cool!

Squirt some shaving cream onto the bubble wrap and add a few squirts of colour or dollops of paint if you like. Adding colour will up the mess factor slightly, and be aware that some food colouring can stain. We used liquid water colours which add a bright vivid colour and clean up really easily.

Pop on a smock or go shirt-less and explain to your preschooler that they need to be careful not to get the shaving cream in their eyes… and then let them go to town!

Squidgy! Slimy! Slippery!

Bumpy! Ridgey! Bubbley!

You can mix colours, and try to make mountains, and serve up handfuls of ‘ice cream!’

And here’s how we cleaned up in less than 3 minutes…

When you are done playing hand washing is easy thanks to the soapy shaving foam.

And cleaning up the table? That’s easy, just un-tape the bubble wrap, fold it up, and throw it away. Done!

If you want to reuse the bubble wrap you can put it on the bottom of the bath for even more sensory fun and easy clean up – just be careful, it will be slippery at first!

It doesn’t get much easier than that!