Click here to read Easy Toddler Connect the Dots Shaving Cream Activity Fun on Hands On As We Grow®
Fun and simple twist on connect the dots pre-writing activity for toddlers and preschoolers with shaving cream sensory and teaching colors.
I love connect the dots for toddlers and preschoolers, because it’s so great for starting some prewriting skills practice.
They focus on fine motor movements from one spot to the next. The hand-eye coordination of reaching that next dot is so wonderful for getting toddlers ready to write!
I wanted to do a connect the dots with my son but he was just not in the mood for normal writing materials like pens, markers, crayons or even paint.
So I decided to try something a little different.
Why not a connect the dots activity with shaving cream and a cotton swab to add a little sensory fun to the mix?
Connect the Dots Shaving Cream Edition
My son isn’t big on getting his hands messy.
The more we try activities like this that don’t actually “require” getting his hands dirty, the more comfortable he is getting with it.
I always make sure to have some tissues or paper towels handy to wipe off any mess that makes him uncomfortable.
For this Shaving Cream Connect the Dots Toddler Activity You Need:
- Shaving cream
- Food coloring
- Cotton Swabs
- Baking pan or container (we used a plastic craft drawer)
- Spatula or knife to spread
First step for this connect the dots activity is to fill the container or baking pan with shaving cream.
You don’t need to spray the whole pan, just enough to spread out to cover with about a half inch to an inch thick
Once the surface is smooth add some dots of food coloring.
I didn’t do any mixing of colors as it’s tricky to accomplish on top of shaving cream.
That’s it!
Your toddler shaving cream connect the dots activity is all set up.
Just grab a few cotton swabs and let your toddler get creative pulling the colors around from one dot to the next!
TIP: If you have a feisty little one and think this may get messy try laying out a waterproof table cloth or shower curtain underneath the activity.
Get Creative with Shaving Cream Connect the Dots Activity
Now it’s the fun part for your toddler or preschooler!
I set the tray in front of my son, Charlie.
He is 3 1/2.
He was immediately intrigued by this!
I handed him a cotton swab and suggested he try to connect the dots. I said, “Try pulling one color all the way to another one.“
He went right to work connecting one dot after another.
As he connected the dots in the shaving cream he named the colors and talked about the shapes he was making in his activity.
It was awesome watching the wheels turning as the colors and shaving cream started to look like designs and patterns in the tray.
I also loved the fact that holding the little cotton swap and manipulating it in the thick shaving cream was strengthening his handwriting muscles!
I also loved that he had absolutely no idea that he was building those writing skills.
As far as he was concerned this was just a fun, squishy, foamy, nice smelling game.
He got shaving cream on his fingers a few times but I was ready with tissues!
And eventually when he got a tiny bit on his finger he would just look at me and say, “It’s ok Mommy. It’s just a little bit. No worries.”
Yay, bonus victory with sensory comfort increasing little by little!
All Done. Now What?
Once Charlie was all done playing with his shaving cream connect the dots activity I wanted to save his masterpiece somehow.
Shaving cream and food coloring is an awesome base for marbled paper toddler activities!
You could try this fun marbled butterfly or marbled shapes craft.
For us this happened to be a perfect opportunity to make some homemade wrapping paper!
Charlie had some Christmas presents to wrap that weekend and I had a feeling he would be more interested in it if he had also made his own wrapping paper.
I simply laid some sheets of finger painting paper (because it’s shiny and kind of looks like wrapping paper) flat onto the top of the shaving cream activity.
Gently smoothed it out to make sure their weren’t a bunch of air bubbles blocking the food coloring from making contact with the paper.
Then I slowly lifted it up.
Set it in top of a cookie sheet for a bit.
And finally I used a spatula to scrape off the excess shaving cream about 10 minutes later.
I repeated this with Charlie helping me a few times till we had enough sheets.
You could also take the finished product into the bathtub with a paintbrush or two and do some toddler shower wall painting!
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