Shaving Cream Snowmen

Here is project #2 that we made on this "snow day." I decided that we had to make some snowmen. We attempted to build one 3 days ago when we had a snow day that truly involved snow, and enough of it for building a snowman. The only problem was that it wouldn't pack. So, alas, we have yet to build an actual snowman this year. This was another craft idea gleaned from the library story time lady. I already had the glue out, so it wasn't much of an effort to mix some shaving cream in with it.

{Snowman by Mia, Age 6}

Materials:

• construction paper
• white glue
• shaving cream
• bowls
• mixing spoon
• paint brushes (optional)
• pencil
• decorative items: pom poms, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, felt, buttons, construction paper, etc.

Directions:

1. I started by tracing various sizes of bowls and other round things to make the snowman outlines onto two pieces of blue construction paper. Mia requested a 2-ball snowman, and Logan wanted a 3-ball snowman, although you can't see it any more since he went hog-wild with painting. You could skip this step and just let them paint, too.
2. Squirt some shaving cream into a bowl. Add about 1/2 that amount of white glue and mix together with a spoon. (Tip: If doing this craft with more than one child, you may want one bowl per child.) My proportions are approximate. It should be spreadable and not too sticky.
3. Have your child paint the snowman. My kids used a combination of mainly finger-painting with a small amount of using the Q-Tips left over from the previous project. You can also use paint brushes for this.
4. Let your child decorate the snowmen. There are tons of options here. Mia used googly eyes, buttons for the mouth, an orange pom pom for the nose, pieces of scrap felt for a scarf, and my favorite accessory: ear muffs made from part of a pipe cleaner and two purple pom poms. I suggested twigs for arms but she didn't like that idea. Logan's snowman had turned into a big mess covering most of his paper. Rather than tossing it out, I suggested that we make it just the snowman's head, and he agreed. He made button eyes and a button mouth, which is frowning for some reason, but is still cute. We took a two-inch piece of orange pipe cleaner, folded it in half, and added it for the nose. I cut out a hat from black construction paper, and we trimmed the brim with a strip of yellow felt. We just added a bit of extra glue-shaving cream mixture to adhere it.
5. Make sure the shaving cream/glue mixture dries completely before displaying your snowman craft.

   

   {Snowman by Logan, Age 3}

Cherry on Top Cupcake Craft

Oooh... I must have really been in the zone, creatively speaking, when I came up with this idea for a Mother's Day card (or gift). I think these cupcakes could also be used for Valentines or for a birthday gift for a special little girl or even as a gift for sweet teacher.

{Cupcake by Mia, Age 5}

Materials:

• white paper (We used 8" x 8" scrapbooking paper.)
• colored cardstock
• paper crimping tool
• scissors
• glue
• shaving cream
• food coloring
• tray/plate/bowl to hold paint
• paintbrush
• red pom pom
• green pipe cleaner 
• picture frame (optional)
• black marker (optional)

Directions:
1) Take your cardstock and run it through the paper crimper to get texture like a cupcake wrapper. Cut into a trapezoid shape. I found this template that should work if you don't want to cut the shapes freehand. Have your child glue the paper trapezoid "cupcake wrapper" to the paper, making sure to leave enough room for painting the top of the cupcake.

2) On your tray (We re-used a Styrofoam meat tray), squirt a small amount of shaving cream. Add a few drops of food coloring (We used neon pink) and mix with a paintbrush to get the desired color. Have your child paint "frosting" above the paper trapezoid. Set aside to dry. This takes awhile, and varies depending upon how thick your painting is. Ours was still a bit tacky after 24 hours, so this isn't ideal for last minute gifts.

3) Once paint is dry, glue a red pom pom onto the top of the "frosting" to make the "cherry."

4) Cut a short length of green pipe cleaner, shape as desired, and then glue by the top of the pom pom to make the cherry "stem." (I realize that cherry stems really are more of a brown color, but green seemed prettier.)

{Another Finished Cupcake by Mia, Age 5}

5) Once the cupcake is finished, you can turn it into a card by writing a message with a black marker. My ideas are along the lines of "Hope Your Mother's Day is Extra Special with a Cherry on Top," "Happy Birthday to a Sweet Girl," or "Thanks for Being a Sweet Teacher." Or, you can write your message and then place the finished project in a frame and then give it as a gift. (Michael's has 8" x" 8 frames for $4.99 that are perfect for this.)

Other Ideas:

• Mix paint with the shaving cream in place of food coloring. (If you are worried about stains, have your child wear old clothing or a paint smock. You might also wish to protect the work area with newspaper before starting.)
• Add sequins or beads to make "sprinkles" for your cupcake.
• Add a flower embellishment in place of the cherry on top. (Try felt or silk flowers since paper may not hold up the best on top of the shaving cream paint.)
• In place of colored cardstock, consider decorative scrapbooking paper for cute cupcake wrappers.
• Or, you could try using actual cupcake wrappers if you wish. (I felt that once you flattened them they lost the proper shape of the cupcake, which is why I decided to make ours from cardstock.)
• If you don't have red pom poms, buttons would make cute cherries, too. (They just won't have the same 3-D effect.)
• If you don't have green pipe cleaners, try short lengths of ribbon or yarn to make the cherry stems. (The nice thing about pipe cleaners is that you can bend them the way you want and they retain that shape.)
• I think this would be cute for things other than cupcakes. I am imagining a triple decker ice cream cone with 3 different colors of shaving cream paint... or an ice cream sundae ... or maybe even a whole cake. There are lots of sweet possibilities.

DIY Bathtub Paint

{How I got my paint palette... 1 drop of each color as indicated: top row: neon green, red, green, blue + red  middle row: neon purple, yellow, blue, red + yellow  bottom row: neon pink, neon blue, green + blue, neon pink + neon blue}

This is one of those things that is pure genius, and that's largely because of its absolute simplicity. I wish I had thought of it. No matter, though, it is still a great idea (from Pinterest, once again) and I had to share. I have tried this twice so far. Last night, I mixed up twelve different colors in a muffin tin, and the time before that I used 3 small plastic containers. The problem with the individual containers was that they kept tipping over when the kids dipped their paint brushes into them. The problem with the muffin tin was that it was too large to rest on the edge of the tub without it being a bit unstable as well. The original post where the idea came from shows a 6 cup muffin tin, and I think this would be ideal.

The nice thing about this paint besides how easy it is to make is that it washes up quickly with a splash of water. Both times I have made it, I ended up with tiny traces of dye on my fingers, but it soon washed away during our bath time fun. You can also customize your paint colors by mixing different food colors together. The only possible drawback is the smell of the shaving cream. It bothered me at first, but since we've been painting with it lately, I seem to have gotten used to it. Now, I barely notice it, and the kids definitely do not seem to mind. Mia enjoyed seeing what new colors she could create, and Logan loved finger painting (which he normally doesn't like to do).

Materials:                                                

• shaving cream
• food coloring
• paintbrushes
• something to hold paint

  

  {Finger Painting Fun}

Directions:

1. Squirt some shaving cream into your container.
2. Add a drop or two of food coloring. 
3. Mix and enjoy. To clean up, rinse with water.

{Mia's "Colorful Dots"}

Shaving Cream Rainbow Paintings

{Shaving Cream Rainbow Painting by Mia, Age 5}

I associate rainbows with St. Patrick's Day, so I decided this would be a good craft for the month of March. After we finished making these yesterday, we saw a rainbow in the sky, which was fitting. When my dad saw the paintings, he asked, "Where's the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?" Feel free to add a pot of gold if you want to, but I decided the rainbow itself was enough for my kids.

{Shaving Cream Rainbow Painting by Logan, Age 2 1/2}

Materials:

• cereal box
• pencil
• scissors
• newspaper
• Styrofoam tray
• shaving cream
• paint in rainbow colors
• paintbrushes (or Q-tips)
• bowl for tracing (optional)

Directions:

1. Cut a cereal box apart into separate panels. You will need one large side panel per rainbow. Save the narrow side panels for this fun craft.
2. Draw a rainbow onto the cardboard. I started my arc by tracing part of a bowl, and then just added lines onto it until I had six sections, one for each color of the rainbow. I then drew clouds below. Cut out your rainbow shape (and clouds if you are adding those).
3. Protect work surface with newspaper. Have kids wear old clothing or protect clothes with a paint smock or old shirt. (I have mine wear my old t-shirts with a clothespin at the back of the neck to make it fit more snugly.) Pour rainbow paints into a Styrofoam tray (ours is re-used from meat packaging; a bowl, plate, or plastic microwave dinner tray will also work). Add a squirt of shaving cream.
4. Let kids mix paints with shaving cream using paintbrush, fingers, or Q-tips, and then paint the rainbow as desired. (Mia's doesn't look the way I imagined it, but that is okay. It's her project so I let her do it her way. Of course, I was thinking of a rainbow being in the order of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet. I had also envisioned white shaving cream clouds, but she mixed in red paint and was so excited to discover it made pink. This just goes to show how limited adult thinking can be.)
5. Allow paint/shaving cream mixture to dry completely before moving it and hanging it up. This takes awhile -- up to 24 hours. The final result will not be as puffy, but it will still have texture to it. You can display your rainbows along with some shamrocks for St. Patrick's Day.

Shaving Cream Shamrock Paintings

{Shaving Cream Shamrock Paintings by Mia, Age 5}

Materials:

• cereal box
• pencil
• scissors
• green paint
• shaving cream
• newspaper
• Styrofoam tray
• foam paintbrush

Directions:

1. Cut apart a cereal box into separate panels. Draw shamrock/s onto the cardboard and cut out. I drew ours freehand, but there are many templates available online. (If you have leftover narrow box panels, try this fun craft.)
2. Protect work surface with newspaper. Protect children's clothing or have them wear old clothes. Pour green paint into a Styrofoam tray and add shaving cream. (We used acrylic paint which will stain.)
3. Have your child paint the shamrock/s. Allow paint and shaving cream to dry completely. This will take several hours (up to a day). The finished painting will not be as puffy after it dries, but it will still have texture.

"The Lorax" Moustache on a Stick

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss! We have been doing some shaving cream paintings the past two days using cereal boxes, and I was trying to think of some way to use the small sides. Plus I had been trying to come up with a new Dr. Seuss related craft idea, then it hit me: a friend had recently posted pictures of her kids sporting Lorax moustaches. It's a match made in Heaven, really. The skinny cereal box sides are the perfect size and the shaving cream adds texture so it looks like a bushy moustache. Oh, and put it on a craft stick, and voila, now it's a "mask" that the kiddos can used for dress-up play. Sometimes, I impress even myself.

Materials:

• cereal box
• pencil
• scissors
• Styrofoam tray
• orange paint
• yellow paint
• shaving cream
• foam paint brush
• newspaper
• large craft stick 
• tape

Directions:

1. You will need one long, narrow side cut from a cereal box per moustache. Fold in half.
2. On one half, draw one side of a shaggy moustache. Remember, folks, this is a character created by a man of amazing imagination, so your drawing need not be perfect.
3. Keeping the boxboard folded, cut out moustache. When you unfold it, you will have a symmetrical moustache. (See, even if your drawing skills aren't fantastic, at least both sides will look the same.)
4. Protect work surface with newspaper. (Covering kids' clothing with an old shirt or paint smock, or having them wear old clothing is also recommended.) Pour small amounts of yellow and orange paint onto a Styrofoam tray. Add a small squirt of shaving cream and blend with paint using the paint brush. (We used the cheapest shaving cream I could find.)
5. Have your child paint the Lorax moustache. Note: I found the best way to get the texture I wanted was to use a foam brush, load the tip of it with the paint/shaving cream mixture, and then dab it on. This made bushy "hairs." Make sure paint dries completely. Depending upon how thick the paint mixture is, this could take a few hours and up to a day.
6. Tape a large craft stick to the back of the moustache. Enjoy "wearing" your Lorax moustache.