Thanksgiving Turkey Art with Sensory Shaving Cream

I have a stockpile of Thanksgiving hand-print turkeys. My son is 13 now, so as you can imagine, he’s done the much beloved project about a zillion times. And while the kiddos love using their tiny little fingers to paint print gobblers, I wanted to do something a little bit different.

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So, I brought in some shaving cream. I’ve made shaving cream fall trees and even Monet’s Water Lilies. But, this time I’m combining basic geometry and turkey-time with shaving cream paint. This sensory activity is an all-out art experience that lets your child feel and create textures on her paper. Yes, it’s messy – and that’s half (or more than half) of the fun! That said, if you put down a piece of wax paper under your child’s work area (and it can hold the shaving cream too!) you’ll minimize the mess and make clean-up easier.

Here’s What You’ll Need:

·        Shaving cream – I like the plain kind. Some kids (and parents) are sensitive to the scent of the aloe-infused, cologne-filled version.

·        Tempera paint – I used Crayola washable liquid paints, but you can mix in powdered too.

·        Card stock paper – You can also use poster board, or any other thick paper.

·        Scissors

·        A marker

Here’s What to Do:

1.     Draw a circle (for the turkey’s head) and an oval (for the body) onto colored card stock paper. Have your child name the shapes as you point to them. The head should be about the size of the bottom of a soup can. The oval should be two to three times larger. Cut the shapes out.

 

2.     Glue the shapes to a piece of white paper. Ask your child to “put together the puzzle” and line up the circle and the oval so that they make a turkey (minus the feathers).

 

3.     Design a face. Cut two circle shapes for the eyes and a triangle for the beak. Glue these to the face. Your child can fold the flat edge of the triangle beak down to make a tab. When she glues down the tab, she’ll create a 3-D nose.

4.     Make three or more piles of shaving cream on a piece of wax paper.
 

5.     Mix paint into each pile of shaving cream. Your child can add one color to each dollop or blend a few different ones. For example, have her mix red and yellow to make orange. Let your little artist get messy, and encourage her to use her hands to mix the colors.
 

6.     Finger paint the turkey’s feathers with the colorful shaving cream. Your child can dip and dot the bumpy, lumpy ‘paint’ on the paper around the oval body. The more layers that she piles on, the more textured the artwork will have.

 

 

Are you looking for more Thanksgiving activities for your child to try? Follow my Pinterest board for ideas!

Follow Mini Monets and Mommies's board Thanksgiving Kids' Activities on Pinterest.