My young daughter is a huge fan of Funny Color Foam; however, at more than two bucks a can, the bath time novelty can really add up. To save money, but still allow my daughter to create fun foam masterpieces in the tub, I’ve taken to making my own colored fluff.
I simply spray super cheap generic shaving cream (less than 99 cents per can) into plastic zip-top bags. Next, I add a few drops of food coloring to the bag and give my daughter the “job” of mixing the two together. This activity is a fabulous hands-on lesson in color combos for younger kids. Add a few drops of blue and yellow food coloring in the same bag, and have your children guess what new color will be created as they squeeze and squish the contents of the bag with their hands.
My daughter loves mixing red and yellow to make orange foam. Other times she simply places a few drops of red food coloring in the bag so she can mix together a bunch of pink fun foam. In the tub, she uses the foam as “ice cream.” She turns the edge of the tub into her ice cream shop counter, and uses a collection of plastic cups and bowls to serve up her colorful creations.
Grade school age children will love the marbleized effect made by combining the white shaving cream and different shades of food coloring. The foam can be taken directly out of the bag and spread on paper, the walls of a bath tub or a table top, and then rinsed clean. Another option is to cut the edge of the zip-top bag and allow kids to pipe out the foam on different surfaces. If you are working with young children, colored foam in a bag can be a frugal sensory material which they can play with freely and explore without the worry of consumption, provided you use a strong bag with a durable zip-top.
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