Marbled Envelops

Making Marbled Mail for the letter "M"

    For this activity, I recommend using unscented shaving creme for sensitive skin just to be careful. I never want to be the first to discover that a child has an allergy or skin sensitivity that can lead to a painful rash. I also recommend using a washable liquid paint. We followed a recipe that used food dyes, which seemed harmless because the kids were not supposed to squish their hands into the colorful shaving cream... but who was I kidding. They are kids and kids can't resist sticking they hands into a heaping pile of colorful shaving creme. 

     So the idea was to have the kids squirt a mound of shaving creme onto a paper plate and then drip drops of food coloring all over the shaving cream. They use a toothpick or the end of a paintbrush to swirl the colors around a bit and finally press a piece of paper into their fluffy, messy masterpiece. Because I wanted the big kids to learn about sending letters through the mail and mail starts with "M", my letter of the week, it was perfect to use this technique to decorate our mailing envelops.

    For a simple letter to send inside of the envelops, I wrote a very brief letter that focuses on our letter of the week. For this sample letter click here:
http://lizzylearning.blogspot.com/2017/04/dearfriend-thisweek-we-are-learning.html

 As you can see in this finally photo the kids also enjoyed a great deal of sensory fun. When it was done however, I had the pleasure of discovering how difficult it can be to wash the dye from their skin. I looked up the most gentle recipe I could find on the internet and discovered toothpaste with baking soda is the miracle fix. Of course having wonderful, forgiving parents helps as well.