Monday, September 28, 2009

Writing in Shaving Cream

I returned from the Type A Mom Conference on Sunday to find my little guy completely without a voice. It was absolutely pathetic because he really wanted to tell his mommy all about the weekend and he couldn't even squeak.


We both took today to recover (me from the go, go, go) and spent the entire day together. We played trains, snuggled up to watch "Thomas", slurped soup, colored, and even squeezed in a special activity. One I'd been thinking of but hadn't yet done.

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Shaving Cream Writing
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Materials: shaving cream or go old school with shaving soap and brush

On a non-porous surface, slather a good layer of shaving cream. Using your fingers, squiggle around and make an artwork or practice your pre-writing skills.

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With Linus, patience is not a virtue, so I actually let him help me spread the shaving cream out. Then he explored it by rubbing it between his fingers and slipping his hands all over the table. Before clean-up, we had a little directed time. With my guidance, he practiced the three basic strokes needed to write. We made circles, drew vertical lines from top to bottom, and drew horizontal lines from left to right. Is he going to begin writing sonnets tomorrow? Um, no but he has to start somewhere and it might as well be fun!

Plus, the very best part of this activity is the super easy clean-up. Just rinse. It leaves your house and toddler smelling manly fresh.



5 comments:

Marty, a.k.a. canape said...

That was the sweetest little squeak I have ever heard in my life, but it broke my heart at the same time.

I'm glad y'all had a day to relax and spend together.

We'll be shaving cream writing later this week for sure. Thanks for the ideas :)

brookie said...

This brings back great memories! We used to do this with my Grandma Zink. It is so much fun and the smell is great!

Chimpsea said...

That was always one of my fav things to do with the preschoolers! I hope Linus starts feeling better soon. I also hope he didn't give me the cooties! My throat has been just killing me. But then again if I can't talk they might let me take a day off school! That would be good. :)

carrhop said...

We've been using some shaving cream writing with 7 of 8 to encourage her to use that little left hand--it certainly motivates her! Glad Linus enjoyed it!

Blessings!

Miche said...

Love playing with shaving cream! You can add food coloring too and let him swirl it to make cool patterns-pretty good for showing how to mix primary colors to get new colors.

How was the Type A conference? I hope someday I can go to one of these cool blog meet ups!