Build A Snowman Foam Dough

11/17/201311/28/2015

Sensational WInter Sensory Play Series by Crayon Box Chronicles

Welcome to the second post in our Sensational Winter Sensory Play Series! I’m teaming up with the wonderful and super-talented Frogs Snails and Puppy Dog Tails to bring you fun, sensory-related winter activities in November. Last Sunday we explored small world play, Antarctic Sensory Iceberg with DIY slides and edible sensory materials. We’ll be linking to each others posts, so please stop by Jaime’s page too! Links will be at the bottom of each post.

With winter quickly approaching, let’s celebrate with a little Build A Snowman foam dough play! Growing up in the snow, lots of snow, I remember spending hours outside making snow angels and building snowmen. Foam dough makes it just as fun! It’s soft, fragrant, molds nicely, and uses just 2 ingredients – cornstarch and shaving cream. You can shape it, cut it, color it, and add a little sparkle too.

Sensory play helps children develop words to sensations and strengthen new motor skills through shaping, molding, cutting and mixing. Plus, it’s a great opportunity to encourage imaginative play and learn body parts and placement.

Foam Dough Recipe:

Cornstarch (US) Cornflour (UK), 14 oz
Shaving Cream, 10 oz
Bowl
Powder Tempera Paint, or Food Gel Icing, or Food Coloring

This simple 2-ingredient sensory play recipe is inexpensive, reusable, and whips up in a snap! Add a full bag of corn starch or corn flour and shaving cream, then mix, mix, mix!!

Foam dough tends to dry quickly, so we started by adding 80% of the can, then added the remaining 20% as we played. For our project, the dough was best more sticky-like than play dough-like because we were stacking the snow balls and adding decorations.

For a more flaky, dough-like consistency (like above), start with less than add more until you achieve your desired consistency. You may be wondering why its yellowish right? Well, little did I know, corn flour is yellowish and corn starch is white.

Next, add your color and mix (didn’t take a photo, boo). Powdered tempera paint is amazing! It doesn’t stain like food gel or coloring and the colors are so vibrant! Next best if food gel – more concentrated but stains hands temporally. Final option is food coloring –less vibrant, but most-likely in your cabinets.

Loose Parts:

Sticks
Yarn
Buttons
Pipe Cleaner
Beads
Sequins

Once your dough is ready, gather your craft supplies and build your snowman. We used whatever we had in our craft bin – sequins, beads, pipe cleaners, yarn, and buttons. There are lots of options for loose materials.

Roll it, flatten it, mash it! Have fun! After C played for a bit, I helped him roll the balls to make our snowman. When connecting the balls, add a little dab of shaving cream to help it stick together.

Once all your snowballs are connected, it’s decorating time! C loved this part the most. He was singing, “Snowman, snowman, doo-tadoo, da-oooow!”

First, C added the buttons. He loved the shaving cream, so he used it as glue – not necessary, but fun!

Next, he added the nose, then the stick arms. We made three total, so he varied the order on each. For the nose, we used an orange pipe cleaner cut into small pieces. He kept saying, “It’s a carrot nose Mommy!”

Now, the eyes! We used beads in various colors! Had I had black, I would of chose them, but I wanted to re-use materials we had on-hand. He loved the eyes. I think he preferred the colored ones. In preschool children learn about their face, so this is a fun activity to help them practice placement and identify parts.