Shaving Cream "Snow"

A great indoor activity for any time of year is shaving cream "snow." Trip loved this activity because he got to take off his shirt. And then, since his shirt was off, he wanted all of his clothes off! Considering the potential for a big mess, I figured he might as well be naked.

I had Trip choose between playing with animals and cars. He chose cars, so while he found a few cars, I sprayed some shaving cream on a cookie sheet. As soon as he came back to the table, the cars got very "snowy."

Right about this point, he got very upset that the car was "all mess" and wanted me to clean it.

With a clean car in hand, it was time to get his fingers in it.

And then some of the shaving cream ended up on his tummy.

Shortly thereafter, Trip was ready for something else, so he played with water in the sink for a while (a new favorite pastime).

Meanwhile, I mixed up some "snow" paint (which could double nicely as "cloud" paint as well) with the shaving cream left on the cookie sheet. I discovered from this pin that equal parts shaving cream and white glue makes a fun paint that dries puffy. Trip was too busy playing in the water to care about painting, so I started making him some snowy letters. I ended up having enough shaving cream to make the whole alphabet.

The paint doesn't dry quite as puffy as it starts out, but it has a really nice silky feel to it and does retain some dimensionality. In the future, these letters will be great for Trip to practice tracing out letters by following along the lines with his fingers.

Snow Painting

The idea of painting snow with colored water is all over the Internet, and for good reason. It's lots of fun! Trip loves using a spray bottle, so I knew he would like taking one outside filled with water and a few drops of food coloring.

He had requested to bring a couple of small toys out with him and I obliged, but they quickly fell by the wayside when he discovered what was in that spray bottle.

"Mommy, I so excycle (excited)!" (You just have to hear him say it in his cute little voice!)

He had a blast spraying the trees,

the fence,

the cinder-blocks,

and the icicles.

Then, it was Mommy's turn. He wanted me to make a boy and I also made him a T.

Trip enjoyed this activity so much that I have a feeling we will be taking a spay bottle of colored water out in our next snow, too.

Snow Ice Cream

Snow ice cream is a simple but fun treat that Daddy reminded me we should make for Trip. I gathered some fresh snow, a can of sweetened condensed milk, and some vanilla extract, then we were ready to get mixing. The proportions aren't exact. Just add enough sweetened condensed milk to sweeten the snow and just a splash of vanilla to enhance the flavor.

Trip was already tasting our concoction before we mixed it.

After a few turns of the bowl with the spoon, he was ready for a bigger taste.

He then enjoyed dipping graham cookies in the snow.

"Deeeee-wishous!" And cold!

Making snow ice cream made me think about "Little House in the Big Woods" and reading about the Ingalls family making candy by pouring hot maple syrup onto beds of clean snow. I found a recipe for Maple Snow Taffy, but didn't end up trying it before our snow was gone. Maybe it will be a fun treat for our next snowy days.

Do you have any snow recipes to share? I would love to hear about them!

Snow Week!

We took a break from having a letter of the week to enjoy some snow fun. Just a snow day wasn't enough so even though our snow didn't last more than a few days, we had a whole week of snow fun. Living in the mountains of southern Oregon, we generally have a very snowy winter. This year has been a little different, though and we have seen very little of the white stuff. I'm sure we'll get plenty of it between now and June (yes, June!), but for the time being, I took the opportunity to do some activities I've been waiting to try with Trip.

Click on the links below to see the full post about each activity.

We enjoyed snow ice cream.

Trip loved spraying the snow with blue water!

We had some sensory fun indoors driving cars in shaving cream "snow."

We used the leftover shaving cream to make "snow" paint.

Trip liked taking cotton ball "snowballs" out of an ice cube tray with these little tongs. He enjoyed putting them back in the tray too. This was a fun activity that allowed him to practice his fine motor skills.

 Finally, I made a penguins in the snow sensory tub as a gift for a little friend of ours.

Check back next week to see our V week fun!





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