Simple weather activity: Shaving foam rain clouds #31DaysOfLearning

Today we have Emma and Three sharing with us for 31 Days of Learning; and we are back to a fabulous STEM activity for you all. Shaving cream offers lots of ideas for sensory and messy play. It is often underrated and only used in pre school settings however there is still plenty of ways to use this versatile product when children are a little older.

This shaving foam rain clouds activity helps children to see what happens when water is mixed with foam and colouring. It is an easy activity to do at home or in the classroom.

This works well when exploring ideas around the weather. It can be used to help explain how rain clouds and how water vapor rises into the air. It is essentially a science experiment for KS1 children, when I have done this activity children are mesmerised by the changes and it helps them understand the water cycle at a basic level. This can then be built on later.

Shaving foam rain clouds

Teaching idea

The shaving cream represents the clouds and the water represents the air. The coloured water represents rain. As the coloured water saturates the “cloud”, it gets heavy and eventually is so heavy that it can no longer hold the water. It “rains” down into the jar – through the “air.” It is just like real rain falls through the air.

Supplies:

Clear glass cup or jar
Shaving cream
Food colouring (change this based on the colour needed specific to your activity) we suggest blue for rain clouds!
Cold water
Plastic spoon

Directions:

Fill cup with cold water about ¾ full. You’ll want to leave space for the shaving cream.

Squirt a thin layer of shaving cream over the water. Fill in any holes. Be sure not to add too much – shaving cream does rise a bit and you don’t want it to be too thick. If you put too much, you can scrape some off using a plastic spoon. Use the spoon to help even out the layer of shaving cream.

Drop several drops of food colouring onto the shaving cream. Check the water to see if you can see the food colouring seeping through the shaving cream. If you do not see this, add more food colouring until it goes through.

Once you see the food colouring go through the shaving cream, sit back and watch to see what happens!

Add additional food colouring or colours if interested.