We recently explored with shaving cream and foam blocks as a sensory experience for the children. The preschoolers seemed to enjoy this provocation as they began rubbing the shaving cream all over their arms, shirts, hair and faces. Feeling inspired by this activity we added shaving cream and reusable ice cubes onto cookie sheets for the children to explore. This open-ended activity allowed the children to be creative with the materials placed in front of them. They scooped the shaving cream with their hands and the cubes. Some children stacked the cubes together to make a tower while others left them flat on the trays creating cakes, pies, pancakes, cookies, etc.
“Red, green, red, green. Look I made a pattern!” pointed Melina on her tray. “What would go next in your pattern?” asked educator Catherine. “Red!” cheered Melina. “It’s squishy in my hands.” noticed Noah as he rubbed the shaving cream all over his hands. “There’s water inside of here.” said Dante as he showed one of the cubes in his hands. “I’m turning mine into a cake to eat.” said Amelia as she placed her cubes into a square shaped pile.
This provocation helped enhance the children’s math skills as they counted from 1-20 with little to no assistance after they got past number ten. We introduced pattern making by repeating two colours on the tray and guessing what would come next in the patterned line sequence.
“As children engage in various forms of social play and are supported to recognize the varied capabilities and characteristics of other children, they learn to get along with others; to negotiate, collaborate, and communicate; and to care for others.” (How Does Learning Happen? Ontario’s Pedagogy for the Early Years, page 24).
