5 Fun Ways to Use Shaving Cream in Your Middle School ELA Lessons

I had so much fun at school today, and I have shaving cream to thank for it. Shaving cream is cheap, entertaining, and surprisingly engaging as a learning tool!

If you’re looking to add some fun to your middle school ELA lessons, try one of these silly but engaging shaving-cream ideas:

1. Draw symbols from literature in the shaving cream and have a gallery walk.

Squirt a bit of shaving cream on each student’s desk and have them use their fingers to draw meaningful objects (symbols) from the book they are reading. Then have the kids stand up and walk through the classroom, looking at all of the images in the room. This activity is perfect for a book that the class is reading together!

2. Race to fill a bucket with shaving cream and review transitions at the same time.

Divide the class into teams and have each team form a single-file line. Squirt shaving cream into each line leader’s hand, and have them pass it to the person behind them and on down the line. The team who fills their bucket first wins! The catch? Each person has to say a transition word or phrase before they’re allowed to pass the shaving cream. (You can easily adapt this for whatever you’re learning.)

3. Illustrate the notes from the day and present the picture to the class as an exit ticket.

This is what we did today! It was as chaotic as you would expect, but it was actually really helpful too. Present a slide deck to the class (on whatever topic you’re learning) and have the kids take notes. When the presentation is done, give each student a bit of shaving cream, and have the kids draw pictures that illustrate what they learned. Then have each student tell the class what they drew. It will give you a really good idea of what the kids picked up on during the lesson!

4. Draw literal translations of figurative language next to figurative meanings.

When we read Full Cicada Moon, I can’t get enough of the amazing figurative language, but sometimes my students skip right by it! (They’re too distracted wondering if Mimi and Timothy are ever going to become “official.”) It helps them to draw a literal and figurative meaning of the same phrase side-by-side. For a fun twist, give each kid a dollop of shaving cream, have them draw their images in the foam, and then let them take pictures to share with the class!

5. Play Pictionary with Greek and Latin roots.

I know I don’t need to explain Pictionary, but this is such a fun option for reviewing vocabulary roots. The shaving cream just takes it to the next level.

For more fun middle-school ELA ideas (for EVERY seventh-grade ELA standard), download this FREE pdf of 144 teaching ideas!