My children are fascinated with foamy shaving cream. The youngest asked for some for her birthday last year, so I decided to get her 5 cans of it. She was so excited, and we came up with some fun ideas for it. She and her brother used all 5 cans to partially fill a plastic kiddie pool, and then played in it in their bathing suits. I had to get pictures, of course! They had a wonderful time, and I can’t decide if they had more fun or I did. By the time they were done playing, they were both covered in shaving cream. I’d like to share one of the pictures with you:
The best part was that the clean-up was very quick and easy – I simply gave them the garden hose. They smelled really nice afterwards, too. I enjoyed watching them, they had a blast, and they feel like they got away with something that most kids wouldn’t be allowed to do. I’m the “cool mom” without any guilt (there’s nothing wrong with what they did). They’re hoping to have a shaving cream battle this year, spraying each other – again, in the summer time, wearing their bathing suits, with the hose nearby and ready to go.
There are other uses for shaving cream, other than shaving or ‘swimming’. One we’ve tried in the past is shaving cream marble art. Just cover a tray with shaving cream, drop different colors of food dye on it, and then swirl. Put a piece of paper on the shaving cream, remove, and let dry. Kids love it!
My kids also love to sing the shaving cream song.
“Shaving Cream” is a song written by Benny Bell in 1946, and originally sung by Paul Wynn. It is a novelty song where each verse ends with a mind rhyme, the initial sh- segueing into the refrain, “Shaving Cream” for example:
“I have a sad story to tell you
It may hurt your feelings a bit
Last night when I walked into my bathroom
I stepped in a big pile of …shhhhh . . . aving cream,
be nice and clean. . . .
Shave ev’ry day and you’ll always look keen.”
S E
