If you need an activity to ease into some sensory and messy play, this soap foam rainbow messy play is both messy and clean. After all, isn’t soap clean?
Even if soap is clean, you may want to spread some newspaper wherever your child will be playing. We set this up on the floor, but a table will work too. In the blender, mix 2 tablespoons of dish washing liquid, like Dawn or Joy, and 1/4 cup of warm water. Some dishwashing liquids make lots more bubbly foam than others, as we discovered with our store brand. It’s amazing how quickly the soap bubbles grow in the blender. No matter what you use, making smaller batches means you also don’t have to discover how more can grow beyond the blender and spread all over the counter. Pour each batch of foam into a big container.
For the rainbow color swirls, squirt a couple of drops of food color into the foam. There’s not much to see at first, until kids start swirling and stirring. Note that food coloring accidentally spilled will stain so open and close the bottles carefully. Once the colors were diluted with soap, they didn’t stain fingers. Put a couple of drops of each color in different areas.
The colors appear in the soap foam almost like magic. Kids can use hands or wooden spoons and spread the colors all around. Little Sister tried a spoon first, but liked using her fingers. She soon got her whole hands and half her arms in the foam because it felt “like a warm bubble bath.” After a few minutes of play, the colors mix together. At this point, add in a fresh batch of soapy foam.
While this is very sensory for touch, it’s also highly visual. The colors create a kaleidoscope that changes in response to how children move. Little Sister was captivated with the dancing color. She played for a long time, directing her own actions, engaging her senses, stretching her attention span, and making thinking connections. When she was done, it was easy to pour the soap foam down the drain, and wipe up. This soap foam rainbow messy play involved lots of learning as well as fun. Could it be your child’s play-of-the-day?
P.S. Remember to check back tomorrow for another messy play activity.