anyone ever seen this before?

[BooyFuckingHoo]

at M&T group run by surestart today and the craft table wasn't craft but shaving foam for the DC's to mess about with. it was an absoloute nightmare. only one child seemed to liek the feeling of the foam on his hands. teh rest stuck their hands in and slapped it about then realised they didn't like it and turned to whoever was with them holding the hands up with a grimace on their faces, their were aprons but it didn't stop the foam going everywhere, in hair, shoes trousers, all over the floor which made it reall slippy. i was waiting for someone to get it in their eyes. i have never seen this done anywhere before. is this a common thing recommended for toddlers?

It is one of the media used in some therapies(ie for sensory issues) and for preschoolers to "write" in.

We have it at our sure start. Quite fun but very messy. In fact there is lots of messy play at our sure start I always need to go with some extra clothes. Not seen anyone get it in their eye - well yet.

We often have it at our surestart. Most kids like it after being apprehensive at first. If you don't like you or your children getting messy, then steer clear of surestart (or at least our local one) - I just used to take a change of clothes for me and DCs.

Yuck! I hope it was the one with no smell as they're quite pungent.

It would sting if it got in their eyes, surely. I used to work in EYFS and haven't seen this. We did use a foam that we ordered especially but never shaving foam.

I wouldn't be worried by the mess, more the aftershave that they contain.

We use it frequently and sometimes add powder paint to it.
the children mark make in it with various tools and reallyenjoy it

it was the asda smartprice shaving foam and you could smell the aftershave so no doubt it would sting. it wasn't the messines that concerned me more the slippyness on the floor and the eyes.

The staff should keep the floor clear of it (or put towels or a mat down) I would have thought. (As for eyes - I get what you're saying but everything is a problem: bubble mixture, paint, washing up liquid etc, so I think that's a carer's job to keep an eye out for.)

Ewe yuck. I wouldn't be happy to let mine play with cheap, nasy perfumed shaving foam.

But Chaotica, nothing that you buy for young children to play with has perfume in. Everything we ever used was hypo-allergenic.

yes usually, children's messy play stuff is safe for them to use. also, it was really hard to stop small flecks of foam flying allover the place. no amount of hand guarding was stopping the foam going in hair, on faces etc.

I'm sympathetic, but even most of the hypoallergenic stuff has various chemicals in which children (or parents) might be allergic to (I know - I am) or might make eyes sting. You have to weigh up the possible harm vs. the possible fun to be had.

What I'm saying is that the bubble mixture and washingup liquid and so on which the children also play with have similar problems. And, lets face it, young children eat sand from the sandpit, lick toys and taste the plastic food, so I don't think limited shaving cream exposure is going to make any of this worse. (I realise that your children might not do this, but most I see in playgroup go through these stages.)

But it's just yuck, cheap and nasty. The smell is probably the worse part. When I worked in EYFS, we ordered special foam. It did not smell of aftershave. I imagine it takes a good few washes to get rid of that smell and it is wuite toxic.

But I have no SS centres near me so I couldn't tell you if this was usual practice.

I am amused though, Chaotica, that your first instinct was to assume the parent had a problem with mess rather than the use of a nasty, chemical induced substance. I wouldn't inflict it on my DH let alone my toddler.

Most nurseries use shaving foam. I must confess I hate the stuff, but I'm always out-voted where ever I work.

The reason pre schools use shaving foam, goop, finger paint etc is that this is the first stage of mark making. children develop their muscles from the neck down ie, they first learn to hold their heads up, then sit, stand and finally walk. this is similar in the development of fine motor skills. the first muscles to develop are the shoulder joint , so it is important that children mark make using their whole arm and without having to hold anything. they can then progress to the elbow joint ie, large pieces of paper with chunky brushes, crayons ,chalks etc. it is only when children acheive tis that they can go on to hold a pencil and begin to form letters.
It does seem messy and many children will prefer dry mixtures like sand or sawdust but it is important to give a variety of experiences to see what works best for individuals. I am hoping to look at ways of using new touch screen technologies to provide similar opportunities as part of my phd study.
hope this helps
www.rightfromthestart.wordpress.com

Sorry, Mcrach, you are completely missing the point! Your post is very patronising and assumes that the problem is mess!

It has nothing to do with it being messy. I use to teach in an EYFS setting and know all about why such stuff is used.

My point was that cheap nasty shaving foam is not the only material that could be used for this purpose. Laden with aftershave and chemicals, I would not want my toddlers to be playing in it then wiping their eyes etc.

We also used foam which we ordered from a specialist supplier. It did not smell and it was not nasty cheap Asda rubbish designed to take children's skin off.

Love playing with shaving foam. It is actually one of the least messy things we play with. It is easily wiped away and cleaned from the floor with a broom.
Our children love it, and we never have any allergic reactions or problems with it getting in their eyes (children are 2 and 3)
The stuff I hate is jelly baff. Ugh!

we have shaving foam, gloop(cornflour and water), cooked pasta play, custard play, jelly play. The children mostly love it.

I imagine it takes a good few washes to get rid of that smell and it is quite toxic.
what an odd statement

You can buy something called Crazy Soap from Tesco for £2.00 or buy the same stuff from a specialist supplier for £3.99 - actually just shaving foam for kids.

I used to work for a SS centre - the shaving foam was a nightmare. Makes a mess, stinks and of course the kids get covered.

Oh we used to have jelly to play in too - yippee.

DS loved the shaving foam at SS. I loved the jelly. I used to take spare tops for both of us!

we have it at our ss too, they put cars for the children to drive through it etc, put the foam out into patterns like roads.. the toddler boys tend to like it, both mine play in it for ages. the "toxic" issue of it never really occurred to me, didn't notice any smell from it?

"toxic" it is produced to be used on skin (face) so there it certainly isn't toxic no matter how cheap and nasty it smells.