Snow and Shaving Cream

The preschoolers love sensory activities. They are always ready to dive right in and get their hands dirty! Earlier this week we played with shaving cream. One of the kids talked about making a snowman with it but realized that it was difficult to form it into shapes. As you can see they liked smearing it around on the table and feeling it in between their fingers.

After that activity we compared a cup of real snow from outside with a cup of shaving cream. We passed the cups around and I encouraged them to use their senses to examine the snow and shaving cream. They looked, smelled, and touched (I wouldn't let them taste it!) the snow and shaving cream.

I asked the children how they were the same and how they were different.

I recorded their observations on a chart...
"One is snow. One is shaving cream!"
"They are white."
"You can play with them."
"Snow is cold. Shaving cream is warm."
"It (shaving cream) smells!"
"Shaving cream does not come from the sky."

Several hours later the preschoolers noticed another difference between snow and shaving cream. The snow had melted in its cup but the shaving cream had not changed at all.