Overview
This one involves water and cheap shampoo. These simple and open-ended materials are bursting with play possibilities and provide a jumping-off point for conversation, conflict, creativity, connections, innovation, exploration, imagination, and more. Kids will enjoy painting with suds, carrying suds, squeezing suds, making more suds out of suds, scrubbing with suds, pouring suds, wearing suds, walking in suds, and probably even eating some suds.
Ingredients
water
cheap shampoo
plastic containers
disposable foam paintbrushes of assorted sizes
Process
1. Plop a dollop of shampoo in the bottom of a plastic container. This is not rocket science; there’s no need to measure.
2. Blast it with a jet of garden-hose water.
3. Set the paintbrushes by the container, step back, and see what kind of play unfolds.
4. Refresh the suds as needed.
More Play Adventures
• Roll on. Add some paint rollers to the activity. For more fun, duct-tape a wooden dowel or section of PVC pipe to the paint-roller handle. Manipulating a long-handled roller will require teamwork and cooperation.
• Chalk it up. Add some ground-up sidewalk chalk to the suds for colorful play.
• Add surprise. Hide toy dragons, fairies, dinosaurs, or other unexpected items in the suds.
• Add more color. Add liquid watercolor to the container before pouring in the water to create colorful suds play.
• Whip it. Add some old-fashioned, hand-crank egg-beaters. Even better, see what happens when you mix up some shampoo and water using an electric hand mixer.
• Go incognito. Let’s face it. Suds make great beards. Make sure to have at least one mirror nearby, and take plenty of photos.
• Get dramatic. Provide suds for outside dramatic play.
• Let them loose. Provide assorted containers, spoons, cups, and other items to facilitate bubbly play.
Notes
What if you start reading the next chapter right now . . .
