Sensory play: Water beads and shaving cream

Sensory play is very important for young children’s development, and I feature a lot of sensory play activities on my blog. I was initially drawn to sensory activities to help my kids, both of whom exhibited sensory challenges when we adopted them as toddlers.

Part of the way my husband and I supported the kids’ ability to tolerate new sensations was through sensory play. Today, I’m happy to say, neither kid exhibits tactile defensiveness anymore. Nonetheless, I’m always looking for new sensory activities to keep them stimulated.

We’ve played with water beads on more than one occasion. So when we had leftover water beads from another activity, I was looking for a creative new way to use them. On this occasion I decided to combine water beads and shaving cream for some sensory play fun!

I usually like to provide tools for the kids to use during their sensory play time. On this day, I set out the following:

• Scissor scoops
• Metal scoops
• Small measuring spoons
• Small plastic cups
• Plastic bowls
• Silicone baking cups

The kids added the shaving cream to a bowl with water beads.

And once they had enough shaving cream, the real fun began! They used the scissor scoops and the metal scoops to grab the water beads and put them into their bowls and cups.

On this day they were more interested in using the various scoops than their hands, but of course their hands still got messy.

And messy hands are a-okay with this mama!

More sensory play resources

More sensory play posts from Gift of Curiosity:

• Fun with flubber
• Water beads and shaving cream
• Bubble dough
• Fun with oobleck
• Writing with shaving cream
• Watermelon oobleck
• Kinetic sand

For more activities that will delight the senses, see my Sensory Play page and my Sensory Play Pinterest board.