Bright Idea: Shaving Cream Snowmen!

I'm excited to be able to share another bright idea with you today!  I absolutely loved reading everyone's bright ideas during the last blog hop!  You can read my post from last month about using a Super Improver Wall to motivate your students {here}.

Today, I am sharing one of my favorite integrated art projects that I use in my classroom every year: Shaving Cream Snowmen!  It is always a favorite!  It feels strange blogging about snowmen in March, but here in Ohio, we still have plenty of snow on the ground.  In fact, we have already missed 12 days of school due to snow... what a winter!

In my 2nd grade classroom, I use this project with the book Snowmen At Night by Caralyn Buehner.  It is an adorable story about the adventures snowmen have while children are sleeping.  First, we make the shaving cream snowmen art project.  Then, students write their own versions of the story.  We glue their writing onto the 11 X 18 paper next to their snowman.  One year, I photographed each snowman and recorded students' voices reading their stories.  I turned the photographs and recordings into an iMovie and posted it on my classroom website... students and parents loved it!  

Here is what you will need to create the shaving cream snow:

1) 2 bottles of shaving cream {I use the cheap kind from the Dollar Store... 2 bottles is plenty for 25 students}

2) 2-3 bottles of Elmer's glue

3) Construction paper for the background

4) Items for snowman accessories: construction paper, sequins, beads, glitter...

Here are the steps I use:

1) Dump colored construction paper all over the floor!  Ask students to create their snowman accessories (hat, scarf, arms, nose).  We use sequins for buttons, eyes, and the mouth, so students do not need to create those out of paper.

2) Call students back to the guided reading table in small groups for snowman creation time

3) Fill a bowl with shaving cream.  Squeeze in a bottle of Elmer's glue and fluff up the mixture with a spoon.  As the mixture gets low, squeeze in more shaving cream and glue.  There is not really an exact science to the the recipe... I just try to use equal parts and fluff it up while students work! 

4) Show students how to spread the snow out onto their papers with the back of a spoon.  While the snow is wet, have students press in their accessories and sequins/beads.  Students might need to use a glue stick to stick down any big pieces, such as their snowman's arms.

5) Sprinkle glitter into the snow while it's still wet.

6) Spread the art around the classroom for it to dry overnight!  The snow will lose a bit of its fluffiness when it drys, but it still looks great once it has dried!  

Here are some photographs of our creations this year!  We made our snowmen on one side of 11X18 paper so that we could add our writing on the other side.  I just love how they all turned out!

{Yup, that's a Minecraft snowman...}

{LOVE this photo!}

{This snowman is too cute... he kept growing and growing as she created him!}

{Oh look, a Creeper snowman... Minecraft is slightly popular in my classroom right now!}

If you've had enough snow for this school year, you could easily adapt this project for spring and use the same recipe to have students create shamrocks, bunnies, or flowers--just add some food coloring to the shaving cream!  Can you think of any other uses for this shaving cream and glue concoction?  Comment with your ideas!

If you are looking for more bright ideas, visit the next blog on this hop, written by The Extra Energetic Educator.  Click on the blog button below to read about EdModo and Test Prep!

Click on the link-ups below to see more Bright Ideas!

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