The holidays are a time for family and togetherness and Christmas is my absolute favorite time of the year.
For many of us, it’s the only time of the year that we actually see relatives who may live on the other side of the country. That’s true in my case; I have a pretty big family that has only grown since my three brothers moved away, married and started having kids of their own. And while I adore getting to spend time with them, having five different families under the same roof is something that is a great ‘once a year’ experience!
But what about those lucky kids who are part of a bi-cultural family living together on a daily basis? For them, blending heritages and customs is an everyday experience.
So whether you have a multi-cultural family, want to feel connected to relatives living in a different country or simply want to expose your kids to the great big world out there, here’s a holiday décor project involving DIY shaving cream paint that can help you teach your children about other countries!
Foreign Festivities
Let’s make some abstract artwork that doubles as a great way to teach your kids about one of the most basic emblems of a nation – its national flag and representative colors.
Our pieces today have been inspired by the colors of America (red, white and blue) and Mexico (red, white and green).
Here are the supplies you’ll need to make the initial artwork:
- Foam Shaving Cream
- Paint or food coloring, in whatever nation’s colors you’re representing
- Heavy cardstock or thick paper
- Wide spatula or ruler
- Skewer or toothpick
- Large tray, covered in foil which can be removed for easy clean-up
1. Start by squeezing out a few stripes of shaving cream.
2. Smooth it out with the spatula or ruler while making sure not to squish out all of the fluff!
3. Squeeze dots of the paint in random spots around the flat cream.
4. Using the skewer or toothpick, make abstract swirls and ‘figure 8’s’ around the entire surface of the shaving cream.
5. Place the paper (face down) on top of the swirls and gently push the paper into the shaving cream so that the surface is evenly coated underneath.
6. Gently peel the paper off of the shaving cream, lay it flat with the shaving cream on top and gently scrape it off with the spatula to expose the swirled pattern underneath.
I did the Mexican flag first with red and green paint and repeated the process with red and blue for the American flag.
Here’s what I ended up with for abstract artwork in the colors of both nations.
Tip: My favorite part of this whole project is using my imagination to find shapes and hidden creatures in the swirled paintings before moving on to the next part (cutting out ornaments).
I hit the jackpot with these two pieces and came up with:
A hidden horse, charging off into the sunset
A pair of hidden dolphins, leaping out of the water, side by side
And a hidden woodpecker
This little guy was probably my favorite because check out what I found to match!
Just taking a moment to appreciate the work shows the wealth of teaching material you can find in these little painting projects!
Turning back to the task at hand, once the sheets have dried, you can cut them into shapes.
I used the wide top of a drinking glass to trace large circles on the back of the paintings and cut them out.
Once you cut out the circles (make sure little kids have appropriate scissors as they work on their cutting skills!), you can punch a single hole on the top to thread a ribbon through. You can create a string garland of the alternating ‘flags’ or make single ornaments for your multi-cultural Christmas tree!
In addition to the customary holiday greeting of the different countries in the native language, what other cultural lessons can you think of for this DIY painting project?
Rheney Williams developed a passion for mixing colors and textures while working with stage makeup as a part of her performing arts education. In addition to writing about projects for Home Depot, Rheney is looking forward to finishing her DIY holiday decor in her new home in time for Christmas with her husband and Maine Coon cat, Cyrus.
I live in a small Georgia town that you most likely have never heard of and I LOVE it! My house is more than full as I am a single mother of four & caregiver to my aging mother and uncle. Lover of all things Outlander. Goes to the beat of her own drum woman.
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Absolutely love this simple idea. I have a ton of cookie cutters that could be used to trace different shapes too. The possibilities are endless for decor and no special skills needed so everyone can participate.
My daughter has a little one and they both live with us. She is always looking for crafts to do with her. They put up a small tree in their bedroom and this would be great to do paper ornaments cutouts with this activity to decorate with. Great idea Deb. E for using cookie cutters to do this. When kids are so little its hard to find ornaments that are not so expensive, or are breakable or even use toxic paint or material with. I assume the shaving cream dries and is then non toxic if a small child would get in their mouth?
This is a fun and easy crafy to do! Kids love getting a bit messy and fingerpainting (o using tooth picks) and I like how you made use of imagination ‘seeing’ things in the drawwingspaintings. I like creative crafts and this is one of them.
I think this is really cool. Never thought of using shaving cream in a craft before. The things she found in them was really awesome. I enjoyed this guest post ~ Thanks!
such a cute idea in getting the kids involved with decorating for the holidays and also teaching them about cultural things. I love kids art and probably go overboard when saving the art things my kids do but this is a really good idea!
I love this idea. I was wondering if it dried to keep it…and then I kept reading to find out it did. Like that’s unique and personal, and creative. I think kids in general are missing a lot of that last part in their lives nowadays.
And the horse was a great bonus 🙂
Our school does a fantastic job of teaching the children about holiday celebrations around the world. My daughter learned all about La Posada, Diwali, Hanukkuh and observations of Christmas in Germany and other places. I learned a lot I didn’t know! When you are bicultural, I think it’s especially important to teach your children about their heritage.
This is a really cool idea. It seems simple enough, but fun for the kids and can be educational if you spin it right. Thank you for sharing, as always!
Thanks for all of the awesome comments! This project was a blast (and a cinch) to do and is a wonderful way to use ‘craft time’ as a teachable moment for your kids. I’m all about fostering a child’s creativity and imagination while imparting a bit of knowledge and awareness of the world around them and this fun project fit the bill, for sure.
Also, the shaving cream smells awesome when it dries! 🙂
What a great project. This is such a fun project because you get to use your imagination. I love how you have the horse and the dolphins in the picture. That is so neat.