Homemade Bath Paint

Shaving cream + food coloring = bath paint!

When Ethan was diagnosed with autism, he was also diagnosed with sensory processing disorder. Basically, the way Ethan receives the 5 senses into his body is different than the way we do....it seems that his body is missing a filter. He hears everything louder, smells everything stronger, tastes everything deeper and so on. This, then ,carrries over into other things....difficulty sleeping, extremely pickey eating, etc.....which leads to a tired/cranky boy, more meltdowns, frustration, health deficiencies, etc. See the sequence?

Because Ethan experiences the senses so intensely, we do A LOT of "sensory play." The goal is to increase Ethan's tolerance to his sensitivities. So, while you may be looking at Ethan playing with messy, colorful shaving cream, I see a boy who may one day eat more than 10 things. A child who may touch or even eat luncheon meat. A boy who might be able to take a simple sandwich in his lunch box.....or even eat hot lunch at school! Bring on the sensory play!!!!!

We started out by using a paintbrush to paint his pictures.

See his "happy" face?

Then, which encouragement, I showed him that he could paint on his skin...not just the bathtub walls.

"Look Mom!"

We also stamped with our sponge letters.

He definitely prefers to use the paintbrush instead of his hands.

I MAY have painted the bottom of his foot....:0)

He told me that he was painting a big city.

Warning! This does stain a bit. My hands were colored from me mixing the paints & our grout is now very colorful! It does eventually wear itself off of skin & I was able to clean the grout with a good scrubbing. But, I actually prefer colored grout....signs of life!

And it does turn your bath water pretty colors as well!!! It's all part of the fun! And Ethan is able to instantly wash off any paint. This is a great sensory activity!