Foam dough
You’ll need
- Mixing bowls
- Cornflour
- Shaving foam
- Things to make the foam dough more interesting (optional)
Before you begin
- Decide whether you want to add anything to make your dough more interesting. You could change the texture (or make it sparkle) with salt, sugar or sand; make it colourful with food colouring; or even add dried flowers like little pieces of lavender.
- Make sure no one has any allergies or sensitivities to cornflour, shaving foam, or anything you’ll add to your foam dough.
Story time
- Everyone should sit in a circle.
- Someone should read Princess Bubble Pop’s Bubble Bath by Jess Connett. It's a story about making the bubbliest bubble bath in the world!
- After reading the story, everyone should take some time to reflect on it as a group.
It was the day of her weekly bubble bath, and Princess Bubble Pop was behaving very, very badly.
Her face was red and squashed up into a horrible expression. Her friend Billie was holding a bottle of bubble bath.
‘I want it bubblier!’ Princess Bubble Pop shouted. ‘It must be a bubblier bubble bath than my last bubbly bath or I’ll scream!’
‘But the world’s bubbliest bubble bath is impossible!’ said Billie
Princess Bubble Pop opened her mouth and screamed until the glass window broke.
That evening, King Bubble Pop paced up and down. ‘What am I going to do?’ he said. ‘She’s broken all the windows in the castle with her screaming. And I’ve bought every bubble bath in the land. This can’t go on.’
In the kitchen, Billie was scrubbing a pot. Her mind began to bubble with a brilliant idea. But how would she make it work?
On the day of her next bath, Princess Bubble Pop awoke to someone knocking on her bedroom door. ‘Who is it?’ she called.
‘It’s Billie. There’s someone here to see you. They’ve got something special for you.’
Princess Bubble Pop got up and opened the door. There stood a person wearing a long cloak that covered their head.
‘I know the secrets of the world’s bubbliest bubble bath,’ whispered the stranger.
‘That’s exactly what I want!’ said Princess Bubble Pop, clapping her hands excitedly. ‘Billie is going to run my bath now, and you must make it the world’s bubbliest bubble bath. And then I’ll be happy forever and I promise never to scream again!’
The stranger went into the bathroom and took off their cloak. It was Billie! She had a big green squeezy bottle. As she ran the water into the bath, she squeezed.
When Princess Bubble Pop came in, she couldn’t see the bath because the whole room was filled with bubbles!
‘This really is the world’s bubbliest bubble bath!’ she said. ‘It’s the best bath ever!’
She plopped into the water and scrubbed her skin until she shone like a saucepan.
Through the thick bubbles, Billie snuck out with the green squeezy bottle. She ran along the corridor, back to the kitchen.
Cook was looking annoyed. ‘Where can my washing up liquid be?’ she said.
‘Here it is!’ said Billie, out of breath. ‘I just needed to borrow some.’
By Jess Connett
Make your foam dough
- Everyone should get into pairs or groups of three.
- Each group should collect a bowl, some cornflour, and some shaving foam.
- Each group should add equal amounts of cornflour and shaving foam to their bowl and mix it until it forms a soft ball.
- If they want to, each group could add salt, sugar, sand, food colouring, or dried flowers to make their foam dough more interesting.
- Each group should get stuck in and use their imagination and initiative to make some models with their foam dough.
Reflection
In this activity, everyone developed their creative, problem-solving skills to make a ball of dough.
Princess Bubble Pop’s Bubble Bath
- What was everyone’s favourite part of the story?
- How does everyone think Billie felt when they helped make the bubbliest bath?
Make your foam dough
- What did the dough feel like?
- What did everyone choose to make with the foam dough?
Safety
All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.
- Food
Remember to check for allergies, eating problems, fasting or dietary requirements and adjust the recipe as needed. Make sure you’ve suitable areas for storing and preparing food and avoid cross contamination of different foods. Take a look at our guidance on food safety and hygiene.
- It’s great to encourage everyone to try to make the foam dough mixture for themselves, but it’s a good idea for an adult to offer a helping hand if anyone’s really struggling.
- You could encourage groups to make models of certain things or to theme their models around different things.
- Try to make sure everyone can take part in a way that works for them. If some people don’t want to touch the mixture, they could still help with pouring and mixing the ingredients. Some people might want to wear gloves when they’re touching the foam dough.
- Check that no one has any allergies or sensitivities you need to be aware of.
All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.
People could take the recipe home and make foam dough with friends and family.
It’s up to each person how they get involved with making the dough and what they choose to model with it.