Aquafaba

Let’s talk about this basically free, enchanting little sensory medium called AQUAFABA. If you’ve ever used a can of chickpeas, you’ve seen it. It’s that slightly-smelly liquid (basically water) that the chickpeas are in. You quickly drain it to make hummus or our most favorite Chickpea and Spinach Curry from Cupful of Kale. I first heard about it as an egg substitute from Minimalist Baker and have seen it make its rounds in sensory tables in the last year.

After drawing a blank on how I wanted to allow the girls to continue to be able to engage with a pail of shells we collected at the beach that morning, I connected some ocean foam we saw that morning to the aquafaba I’d filed away in my head!

You definitely don’t ned to be as literal when you’re trying to figure out how to fit aquafaba in your play. We’ve already remade it and made cakes, hosted a birthday party, drew our letters, sprinkled it with glitter, did the “dishes.” Truly endless possibilities and one of those mediums that you can just pivot and pivot and pivot with. LOVE THOSE.

To make, drain a can of chickpeas, reserving the liquid in your mixing bowl. Add 1/4 tsp of cream of tartar for those stiff peaks, per Minimalist Baker, any food coloring you’d like and beat away. Our took around 4 minutes to come to a consistency I liked!

If you’ve ever made “sensory foam” with liquid soap and a blender this is similar but SO MUCH BETTER. It will stand up to a little bit of water and the texture is unlike anything I’ve felt or imagined it would be. Adding this to our constant rotation of fillers because it’s just so dang easy!