# 3 Halloween Messy Play Ideas: Frozen Paint, Shaving Cream and Jell-O
> Three easy Halloween sensory setups. Swirl frozen paint cubes around a paper-lined tray, hunt for plastic critters in shaving cream, then mush Halloween-colored Jell-O into a sparkly goop. They work just as well without the Halloween theme.
- URL: https://www.funlittles.com/3-messy-play-ideas-for-halloween/
- Ages: 2–6 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: high
- Time: prep 25 min, activity 1 hr
- Works for: one-on-one, small group, whole class · one batch serves about 2 kids
- Skills: sensory-exploration, color-mixing, color-sorting, fine-motor, pre-writing
- Cautions: food-dye, ingestion-risk

## Materials (one batch)
- Washable kids paint (orange, purple and black)
- 1 piece Pumpkin-shaped ice tray
- 1 piece Regular ice cube tray (household)
- 1 piece Flat tray (with sides)
- 1 sheet Cardstock paper
- Pumpkin spice (optional) (household)
- 1 piece Small stick (optional) (household)
- Shaving cream
- Food coloring (optional)
- Small plastic Halloween toys (spiders, critters)
- 1 piece Muffin tin (optional) (household)
- 3 batch Jell-O in Halloween colors
- 1 piece Baking dish or bin (household)
- 1 piece Clothespin (optional) (household)
- Glitter (optional)

## Safety
- Supervise closely. Frozen paint cubes and small plastic toys can be choking hazards for toddlers.
- None of these bins are for eating. That includes the Jell-O once it is on the play tray or mixed with shaving cream and glitter.
- Keep shaving cream and glitter away from eyes and mouths, and wash hands after play.
- Adult handles the hot water when making the Jell-O.
- Paint, Jell-O colors and food coloring can stain hands and clothes. Use smocks or old clothes and cover the play surface.
- If using pumpkin spice, keep it away from eyes.

## Before you start
- Dilute orange washable paint a bit, pour it into a pumpkin-shaped ice tray and freeze overnight.
- Freeze purple and black paint in a regular ice tray overnight.
- Make three sets of Jell-O in Halloween colors and let them set.

## Steps
1. Pop out the frozen paint cubes and let the kids sort them.
2. Line a flat tray with cardstock paper for each child.
3. Place the paint cubes on the paper, then shake and sway the tray to get the cubes moving and make patterns.
4. Squish the melting paint, slather it over the paper and write or draw in it with a small stick.
5. Fill a tray with shaving cream, tinted with food coloring if you like, and add a few plastic Halloween toys.
6. Sort the Halloween toys by color into a muffin tin.
7. Set out the three Jell-O colors in a dish and explore, feel and mush them. Try picking up pieces with a clothespin.
8. Add shaving cream and glitter to the Jell-O to make a sparkly goop.

## Tips
- Frozen paint play is perfect for a really hot day.
- Once you add black paint to other colors, everything turns black. A big kid noticed this, so let them discover color mixing.
- Gentle movements matter. Shaking and swaying the tray slowly makes the prettiest patterns.
- Writing in the slathered paint with a stick is a good way to get kids excited about writing.
- Don't get over-zealous (like me) with toys in the shaving cream. Add just enough to spark creative play, or the kids will want you to remove them all.
- Picking up Jell-O with a clothespin is a fun challenge. It's not really happening, but trying is half the fun.
- Not cute, but loads of fun for the young ones. The bin gets grosser at every stage.

## The original post by TurkeyMom (2012)

With a toddler in the household, sensory play is a no-brainer. For this season, we had lots of fun with some Halloween Sensory/messy play. This October has been on and off in terms of weather. There has been “Wait, is this fall?” days to “God, I’m sorry I wished for cooler weather, please let the sun shine a bit” days. On of of the really hot October days, we played with ice, actually pumpkin frozen paint. We also have our obligatory shaving cream sensory and Jell-o sensory activities. While it is true that these kind of activities has been done so many times, it still is a wonder that the kids enjoy the mess every time we do it. With that, I give you the 3 messy/sensory play activities very popular in our household. These could very well work without the added Halloween theme.

Halloween Sensory Activity -1 Frozen Paint Play

- Kids paint
- Pumpkin shaped ice tray
- Flat tray
- Cardstock paper
- Pumpkin Spice (optional)

I added orange washable paint diluted a bit to the pumpkin ice tray and froze it overnight. In a regular tray, I froze purple and black paint.   I should say that Big A has been going through a “black” phase and really loves black paint in all her art projects. Of course it doesn't give us a “oh-so-pretty" feeling but hey, it is her art project and anything our kids create is beautiful right? While the kids sorted the frozen paint cubes, I lined 2 flat trays with cardstock paper. The girls placed the paint cubes in it and started shaking and swaying the tray to get the cubes moving while creating beautiful patterns.

 Big A also observed “ Once I add black paint to other colors, everything turns black, mommy”. Color mixing and attempting gentle movements were highlights of this activity aside from the huge sensory play potential.

 Here are some beautiful patterns created by them.

 The girls loved squishing the paint and slathering it all over the paper. Big A intuitively grabbed a small stick and started writing on the paper and baby A had to follow suit. This definitely a good activity to get the kids excited about writing.



Halloween Sensory Activity -2 Shaving Cream with Critters Play
Shaving cream sensory activity is one that never gets old with the kids. The idea is simple. Add shaving cream to a tray with the optional food coloring. Add a bunch of plastic toys for some extra fun. Make sure that you don't get over zealous (like me) and add too many toys that it ruins the sensory experience for the kids. Add just enough so that the toys kind of spikes creative play else the toys will become a hindrance to sensory play that the kids will want you to remove all the toys completely.

 We did some color sorting with the plastic Halloween toys. However, my younger one still thinks orange is green and yellow is red. No hurry right?





Halloween Sensory Activity -3 Jell-O Play This is clearly right up my toddler’s alley. Getting her hands into the jell-o and exploring, feeling and mushing gives her so much happiness that it is unreal.

 I made three set of jell-o with the halloween colors and set them out for some messy play. The girls quickly dissected them and made a humongous goop. Baby A tried picking up the jello using a clothespin and soon figured out that it is not happening.

 On suggestion, we added shaving cream and glitter to make a sparkly goop. See how the bin gets grosser ..

 Grand finale. Sensory bin for Halloween – Ultimate gross sensory play for Halloween. Not cute but loads of fun for the young ones.

**Thanks for reading**

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