Bubble foam always is a fun idea to try—but with our infant friends who love putting everything in their mouth, we thought this would be a safe alternative. We decided to make some baby-safe sensory foam from chickpeas instead. The secret ingredient is aquafaba, which is the leftover liquid we find inside a can of chickpeas. It’s often used to replace egg whites in vegan recipes because it can be whipped into a foam that’s very similar in texture to beaten egg whites—which also makes it perfect for sensory play!
To extend the activity and match with the “RAINBOW” theme, we were adding different colors to the foam to enhance their language and colour recognition. We then used the left-over chickpeas to make homemade mouthwatering hummus.
It feels so satisfying to turn the liquid into an amazing fluffy and taste-safe sensory material. We were showing all our little friends how the chickpea water looks at first then slowly let them watch that liquid turn to a fluffy texture and change to different colours. What a great opportunity to experience simple science! We kept chickpea foam in the fridge before put on the sensory table, to add more sensory feeling to their little hands.
A couple of our infant friends had big smiles and pointed to the foam from the first moment they saw the foam. Sebastian said “Wow” and “Oohh ”. It was fun to see that many children were trying to taste the foam and then showed us their funny faces when the taste of chickpeas hit their tongues. They were fully engaging with their hands, some of the friends even put the foam on their bodies and faces.
To enhance their experience, our educators lead the conversation by asking plenty of questions and repeating simple words such as; “What color do you see?” “If we mixed the green and red, what color will it be?” “Is it hard or soft?” “Does that taste sweet or sour?” and “Red” “Rainbow”, “Yellow” “Green”. These are all new words that describe what they are seeing or implementing. We are hoping this activity helps enhance their language and develop their senses.
Our favorite part of sensory play even if it is a simple activity there is a ton of learning we can pull out from that! Of course, we cannot forget to admit how cute and tasty the charcuterie board was that we had with the colourful rainbow hummus.
