Puffy Moon Art for Kids (with 2 Ingredients!)

Shaving cream & glue make the coolest puffy moon art for kids! It comes together in a cinch, and you’ll be “over the moon” for them.

Two completed Puffy Moon Art for Kids projects, one on a solid black paper and the other on black paper with speckled white paint stars in the background. Glue, shaving cream, glitter, and a small jar of white paint sit next to the papers. All are on a purple table.

Shaving cream & glue are the dream team for puffy moon art for kids

In the classroom, we buy shaving cream by the case. (No, seriously.)

Shaving cream makes a delightful sensory base, smells fresh and clean, and is incredibly versatile!

Pairing it with a splash of regular kids’ glue creates a three-dimensional art project that will leave kids and adults swooning.

Related: Our giant 10-foot outer space coloring poster is stellar for more space fun!

A small bowl has a white mixture of glue and shaving cream with a black spoon in it. It sits on a piece of black paper on a purple table. Glue, glitter, and shaving cream sit above them.

I have a special trick for puffy moon art for kids

You may have done a project like this before, but my trick for what to do at the end is what makes it.

So, even if you have tried puffy moons before, this quick little addition at the end makes it go from “That’s cool!” to “WHOA!”

Outer space theme is one of my favorites in the classroom, and I genuinely feel like I could never run out of ideas to do with kids in this theme.

Looking for more outer space activities? You’ll love these with your heart and solar:

Space Stained Glass Suncatchers – Adventure in a Box
Nature Constellation Matching Game – Little Pine Learners
Outer Space Preschool Pattern & Sort Activity with FREE Printable – Friends Art Lab

Materials

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Shaving cream – we buy ours from Dollar Tree or WalMart, but of course, Amazon has some, too
Glue
Bowl
Spoon
Dark paper – the heavier the paper, the better (ex: cardstock)
Glitter – optional
Diluted white paint + paintbrush – optional

A hand spreads a blob of white shaving cream + glue mixture into a circle shape on a black piece of paper.

Directions

These are easy and simple to make, plus we have two optional steps to make it extra fun.

1. In a bowl, mix the shaving cream and glue. There’s no magical ratio or measurements! I usually eyeball it to about 2x more shaving cream than glue, but nothing is exact. Have fun experimenting.

2. Grab a large spoonful and drop it onto the dark paper. Use the spoon to spread it into a circle-ish shape. Add more shaving cream + glue mixture until it’s as puffy as you want.

3. Let it dry.

4. The special trick – After it’s dry, invite your child to poke their finger in the moon to make “craters.” This takes the moon from looking flat to looking dimensional and more realistic. PLUS, it’s fun!

A finger pokes holes into a dried Puffy Moon Art for Kids piece of art to add craters on the moon. The moon has chunky silver glitter on it.

Optional Idea #1 – While the shaving cream & glue mixture is still wet, sprinkle on glitter. Because there is glue in your mixture, the glitter will stick to it while it’s wet and will stay once it’s dry. #moreismore

Optional Idea #2 – Splatter diluted white paint onto your paper to resemble stars. To do this, I dip my paintbrush into diluted white paint and then hit the middle of the paintbrush against my finger while holding it over my piece of art. Kids love doing this!

Video

Does puffy paint get hard?

Your shaving cream + glue mixture will dry, but it won’t ever get hard.

This is actually wonderful because it allows us to add craters to it!

Note: If you hang these on a wall, wait for them to be completely dry, or they’ll start dripping down the walls. Guess how I know this. 😂

A real photo of the moon showing it's craters and behind it is an enormous starry sky.

Why does the moon have craters?

According to NASA, “An asteroid or meteor is more likely to hit Earth because Earth is a lot bigger than the Moon, giving a meteoroid more area to hit!”

To learn more, check out this informative NASA article that’s perfect for kids.