Cover a tray with bubbly sensory foam and uncover hidden Christmas surprises buried beneath!
In our last post, we made a wipe-clean sticker matching activity tray. Today, we’re repurposing that exact same set up into a totally new activity.
Don’t you love multi-purpose play activities?
Disclosure: We use sponsored, or affiliate, links, which means that we could earn a small commission that helps fund our blog (at no extra cost to you!). All opinions are our own and we only recommend products we love. Thank you for your support and happy shopping!
Looking for an organized guide of fun, easy activities to do with your toddler that also encourages their growth and development?
I’ve created a 3-month activity planner just for busy parents like you! The plan includes 65 detailed, simple, and stress-free activities including: arts and crafts, sensory play, motor skills, and STEM–all using easy-to-find supplies.
Let me help make planning activities for your toddler easy, so you can skip the stress and get straight to the fun!
Set Up the Sticker Tray
For the sticker tray, you’ll need:
- Christmas stickers
- Con-Tact paper
- plastic tray
Place stickers all over the tray.
Cover the stickers and tray with contact paper.
The contact paper will protect the stickers from getting wet from the sensory foam, so make sure they’re fully covered and press the contact paper down firmly on all sides.
How to Make Sensory Foam
For the sensory foam, you’ll need:
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 Tbsp concentrated dish soap (like Dawn)
- red food coloring
Pour all the ingredients in a blender or bowl. Mix on high until the liquid turns into a dense foam.
Christmas Foam Hide-and-Seek Activity
Pour your foam onto the tray so all the stickers are completely covered.
I put our tray inside a huge, full-sized baking sheet to catch the foam spillage.
Elena (3 years old) doesn’t usually like getting her hands dirty (at first!), so I set out a paintbrush, foam brush, and sponge for her to use to interact with the sensory foam.
And of course, we had to put on her art smock to keep her clean and dry.
She loved painting with the brush, and she got so excited when she discovered the first hidden surprise: Santa!
Of all the tools, the sponge and foam brush worked best to wipe away the sensory foam.
The paintbrush didn’t wipe the foam away cleanly, so it was hard to see the stickers hiding beneath.
BTW, this is a great activity to work in some vocab: under, below, beneath.
Verdict on Sensory Foam?
The sensory foam was fun and easy to make. It’s very similar texturally to shaving cream.
Honestly, I like shaving cream much better than sensory foam.
I thought our foam felt kind of sticky and it didn’t last as long as shaving cream. Although it lasted long enough for Elena to do the whole activity.
BUT… sensory foam is A LOT cheaper than shaving cream. I probably have half a bottle’s worth of shaving cream on the tray and it cost me pennies with DIY sensory foam.
Your Turn to Make a Hide-and-Seek Foam Tray
Grab your favorite stickers, cover them up with Con-Tact paper and foam, and get ready to play!
Looking for an organized guide of fun, easy activities to do with your toddler that also encourages their growth and development?
I’ve created a 3-month activity planner just for busy parents like you! The plan includes 65 detailed, simple, and stress-free activities including: arts and crafts, sensory play, motor skills, and STEM–all using easy-to-find supplies.
Let me help make planning activities for your toddler easy, so you can skip the stress and get straight to the fun!