Shaving Cream Art

When the days get longer, and the weather starts heating up, it is surely time to get out and get a little messy. Its usually the time of pool parties, tie dye clothing, and eating ice cream. But one of my fondest summer memories as a kid was when we played with shaving cream. The story started with my best friend's mom supplying us with a huge haul of shaving cream. There was a bit of regular and cool gel (I highly advise not to play with cool gel shaving cream, even in the middle of a Texas summer). Regardless, with us left to our own devices, shaving cream was useful for more than hair removal. Imagine, 8 kids of varying ages, dancing around a shaving cream pyre, with puffy white war pain on our arms, legs and faces.

Today's craft is an oldie and goodie. We will be making Shaving Cream art. For all my amateur artists, this might be a familiar hack for transferring marbled paper designs.

Materials:

Watercolor paper or cardstock

A large plate/aluminum tray

Shaving cream

Liquid Water Colors

Cups

Droppers

Toothpicks

Paper towels

Ages 3+

Instructions:

1. Lay out your plate or tray as your work space. Each child needs their own. Let them fill a one inch deep layer of shaving cream. It can be more, but try to even it out with your hands.

   
   

   

   Prep the space

   
   

2. The watercolors I linked are S & S Color Splash! which is my favorite water colors to use. But any other brand can work as well. I prefer pour out a little big of each color into smaller cups like mouthwash cups, and leaving an eye dropper in each cup. This is absolutely optional - but it makes it alot easier for little hands.

3. Drop colors and use the toothpick to spread the color around. This is where you can get as creative as you would like.

   
   

   

   Look at all those colors

   
   

4. Once you have your design set, take you watercolor paper (again, its easier to use thicker paper with a wet medium like this, but its optional). Flip onto the tray GENTLY, so that it doesn't get submerged into the shaving cream.

5. Peel off the paper and wipe off the shaving cream with the paper towel. And voila, the paint has created the perfect transfer onto your paper. You can let it dry, and make them into greeting cards if you would like.

   
   
   
   

   

   Our Lovely creations

   
   

This is a very easy summer craft. It is great for all ages, and the fun can continue until you have no more shaving cream. After that, you can continue with some good ole fashioned water coloring.