“Lovely” Sensory Fun: Valentine’s Day Art for Toddlers
Ever since having Remy in our lives, holidays have gotten a lot more fun! Not only am I super excited to see his reaction to everything, such as food, lights, and decorations, but now I get to involve him in the arts and crafts project leading up to the holiday. Since Valentine’s day is right around the corner, it is time to brainstorm on a “lovely” activity for Remy to do to celebrate LOVE. I love to make all of our activities a learning experience to expose him to as many things as possible. Thus, we have our DIY Sensory Valentine’s Day Art!
This art project uses simple things from around the house and involves most of the senses: smell, touch, sight, and hearing. The final product would make a great Valentine’s Day card or decor! So gather all of your materials, prep them for your toddler, and sit back and watch the fun!
Time: 10 minutes or as long as your little one can stay entertained ????
Materials:
-Toddler
-Bib or apron
-Shaving cream (get this at the Dollar Store!)
-Shallow dish
-Paintbrush
-White Paper
Gather and Prep Your Materials
Before you sit your little one down, spray the shaving cream into the shallow dish, making sure to evenly coat the entire dish. Then, take some of the non-toxic, washable paint and drop a few drops randomly into the shaving cream. Since this was a Valentine’s Day project, we chose pink, red, and purple! Remy was watching in awe as I was pouring the paint and he couldn’t wait to get his hands on it.
We dressed him in our favorite Ikea smock to keep the mess as contained as we could. Since the paint is washable, you can also do this outside with a naked baby if the weather is nice! ????
Time to be hands-on!
Once your shaving cream and paint is ready, hand the paintbrush to your toddler and let them have at it! They may be a little confused at what to do at first, but show them to swirl around the shaving cream, either with tools or their hands, whichever they prefer! There’s no right or wrong way to do this. Since this arts and craft project is also a sensory activity, I let Remy spend as much time with this step as he wants, adding more paint, if necessary. Sometimes the paint gets “too mixed” together and it turns a solid pink, so you can add more paint to keep the marble-y effect.
“Paint” the Canvas
Once the marble effect is perfected, it’s time to “paint” the canvas. We won’t be using a normal paintbrush to do this step. Rather, lay the piece of construction paper on top of the shaving cream and press down gently to transfer some of it onto the paper. Make sure to get the corners too! Peel the paper off slowly and use a paper scrap or cardboard to scrape off the excess shaving cream. Then all you have left is a beautiful marble pattern! Repeat this as many times as you would like with different pieces of construction paper or until you run out of shaving cream. ???? You’ll get a unique pattern each time!
Lay each finished canvas flat to dry. It shouldn’t take more than an hour or so. Once dry, you have multiple marbled construction paper to make into a Valentine’s Day card or to use as part of other projects, such as framed Valentine’s Day wall art! Check back to see what we ended up doing!
This project can be repeated for any holiday or special event – just change the colors! For example, you can do green and red for Christmas or red, white, and blue for Independence Day! This sensory art project with shaving cream is simple, easy to set up, and tons of fun! You might find yourself swirling around the paint yourself! ????
What kind of art projects do you do with your toddlers? Would you try this shaving cream sensory activity? I would love to hear your thoughts!
