Using Shaving Foam to Make a Painting

Creative Art: Fun Art With Children

Original Photo Deborah Christensen

“Art has the role in education of helping children become like themselves instead of more like everyone else.” — Sydney Gurewitz Clemens

Shaving foam paintings are a cheap and easy way to do a fun activity with primary school aged children.

You don’t have to go out and buy expensive items, and there are plenty of things you can substitute from around the house if you don’t have exactly what is required. I have added some suggestions.

The main objective is just to have fun, get messy and not to worry about the right and wrong way to do things.

Be careful in preventing shaving foam from getting in the eyes of very young children.

Items Required

• Shaving foam
• Plastic cutting board or wooden board covered in glad wrap (plastic wrap) or plastic bag (to spread the shaving foam on)
• Spatula
• Wooden/metal skewer or a twig from the garden
• Food coloring OR alcohol inks OR cheap student acrylic paints
• Plastic gloves if you don’t want to get dirty hands
• Squeegee or a ruler if you don’t have one (or use the side of a piece of cardboard)

“Almost all creativity requires purposeful play.” — Abraham Maslow

Method

1. Shake the can of shaving foam. Squeeze out foam onto the board or surface you want to work on. Make sure it is a thick enough layer that you can spread it out evenly and also spread the paint on.
2. Spread out the foam using the spatula until it is as even as you can get on the surface (don’t have to be too fussy).
3. Now, you can start dripping your ink, paint or food coloring on top of the foam. Create any pattern you want. Just remember if you put too many colors on top of each other when you go to move them around with the skewer they might all blend together and become just one big mud puddle. Experiment and see what you like.
4. Take your skewer and make swirly patterns on top of the foam through the paint. Try not to push the skewer all the way through to the bottom and try not to rough up the foam so that it creates massive dips and dales. If this does happen, just flatten out the top of the foam again using the spatula and commence again using the skewer.
5. Lay paper or card paper on top of the painted foam.
6. Press gently with fingertips to try and get even coverage.
7. Lift up paper and place on an even surface (it will be covered in white foam).
8. Take the squeegee and run over the top of the paper in one direction to remove the excess foam. Place excess foam back in the tray with the original foam.
9. You can reuse the foam as often as you want to keep making more patterns and cards. If the colors get too muddy looking just add some clean foam on top.
10. Dry the paper. Seal the finished painting with varnish if you want to (not necessary).

“The field of creativity that exists within each individual is freed by moving out of ideas of wrong-doing or right doing.” — Angeles Arrien

You can use these paintings to make greeting cards (if you use a stiffer card). Or you can frame them.

They would be a great gift from your child to give as a handmade present to a loved one.

I hope you have fun trying this with some children in your life.

“A child’s mind is not a container to be filled but rather a fire to be kindled.” — Dorothea Brande