Messy Play is an important part of play with older babies and young toddlers as it gives them the chance to experience the sensation of different materials mixed with each other. It will allow them to make marks and observe their influence on materials (eg. mixing turns flour and water into a thick paste) – and overall its fun!
I thought I gather some ideas for messy play that can easily be done at home as well as in Day Care or at playgroup.
Preparation
Make sure the child is wearing an apron or old clothes that will only be used for Messy Play – or in summer it may be best to wear nothing at all. Best cover the floor underneath the messy play table, or let them do the messy play on the floor right away (or simply be prepared to mop up with your toddler afterwards).
For the individual messy play ideas you will need different materials, but generally you should have a tray (such as a deep baking tray if you’re at home or your messy play tray at nursery) that has a border about an inch high to prevent materials from leaking too much as well as items to stir whatever the playing with. If eating the mixture is fine you may provide spoons, if you want to discourage eating you might want to use little wooden sticks (the ones we know from ice cream lollies). Obviously young toddlers should not play with materials that can be dangerous if swallowed or ingested! They will very likely try to eat whatever you “serve” them, even if you closely supervise them. Other items to enhance any sort of messy play are for example food colouring and glitter. Just let your imagination run free and look through your kitchen and bathroom.
Messy Play Ideas
Flour
A very simple Messy Play
We need
Flour
Set up
Pour flour on the table or a messy mat (cheap shower curtains make great mats) on the floor and let your children explore. You can add various toys such as spoons, different sized containers as well as small world toys, animals or even cars.
Shaving foam
We need
A cheap can of shaving foam (eg. Sainsburys basic)
Set up
Spray the shaving foam onto your messy tray, the table or a mat on the floor,
Don’t forget to add your favourite toys again.
Jelly
We need
A few packages of Jelly in storage. Try different colours and tastes.
Set up
Prepare the jelly following the instructions. If your child is old enough let it help. To add even more interest to this messy play you can leave items in the jelly before you put it in the fridge to set. You could use anything from pasta to fruit, just make sure that the things do not provide a choking hazard for babies.
Pasta with food colouring
We need
Cooked and cooled pasta
Different containers and spoons
Set up
Prepare some pasta following the packet intructions and leave it to cool down. If you add oil to the water while boiling it the pasta wont stick as easily. You could use different types and shapes of pasta.
Put the pasta on to a table or into a tray and leave it for the children to explore.
Don’t forget to add your favourite toys.
The pasta can also be coloured with food colouring or paint to add more interest.
Coloured sand
We need
Sand
Water
and Food Colouring
Set up
Mix a jug of water with food colouring. Place sand in your messy tray. Add the coloured water to cover the sand. Leave it to dry. You can now add different toys and animals for pretend play.
Wet Sand
(leftovers from sand tray and water play for instance)
Mix some water and sand on your messy tray and let the children make marks in the wet sand.
Don’t forget to add your favourite toys.
Play with Mousse
We need
Mousse
Different containers
Spoons etc.
Set up
Prepare the mousse according to packet instructions. Leave it to set. Place the mousse on the table or in your messy tray. You can now add various toys and spoons.
Dry Pasta Play
A less messy messy play.
We need
Dry pasta
Different sized containers
Set up
Pour some pasta (different shaped) onto the table or your messy play tray and let your children explore.
Don’t forget to add containers, spoons and your favourite toys.
Custard Play
We need
Tins of custard (Sainsburys basic etc.)
Animals and favoruite toys
Different sized containers
Set up
Empty the custard into your messy play tray and allow the children to explore the custard with spoons, containers and their favourite toys.
Spaghetti Play, Baked Beans Play, Mushy Pea Play, Mashed Potatoe Play
We need
Tins of spaghetti or Baked Beans (Sainsburys Basic etc.), Mushy Peas or Mashed Potatoes
Different sized containers
Spoons
Favourite Toys
Set up
Pour the Spaghetti (or your chosen product) onto the table or into your messy tray (Please remember to prepare the mash beforehand and let it cool down). Allow children to use different materials to explore and taste.
Homemade Play-Doh
We need
Flour
Water
A little oil
Extras:
Food Colouring
Glitter
Rice or Porridge Oats etc.
Preparation
Pour some flour (1 cup) into a bowl and add your sensory items such as rice and porridge oats or glitter. Add 1 teaspoon of oil. Mix 1 cup of water with some food colouring of your preferred colour. Then slowly ad water the water to the flour (you won’t need the whole cup!) and knead the dough until it feels right to you and is not sticky anymore. If it is to liquidy add more flour. If it is too dry add a little more water, if it is too sticky try adding some oil (again very little otherwise it will feel too oily). It is ready to be used immediately. Please store in an airtight container inside the fridge to enjoy your play-doh for up to a week.
Set up
Place the Play-Doh onto the table with various cookie cutters and rollers for the children to explore.
Water play
Set up a water play inside a deeper messy play tray, or in your sink if you are at home. If you still have a baby bath tub somewhere that might be great to be used as well. In summer I suggest a paddling pool.
Enhance your water play with boats and ducks, bubbles (baby bath), food colouring (be careful to mix the food colouring with a little water before adding it because it tends to colour childrens hands quite a bit), glitter or use a straw to blow bubbles.
Add different sizes of sponges and cloths to the water play and let them experience the different textures
Ice Cubes play
Make ice cubes of different sizes and shapes and let the children see them melt
Painting with balls
We need
Large pieces of paper (IKEA sells cheap rolls of paper)
Small trays for the paint
Paint in different colours
Balls
Set up
Attach the large pieces of paper to the floor (preferably outside or on a surface that is easily cleaned), cheap big shower curtains could be an option. Fill the little trays with different colours and place them at different ends of the paper. Use a variety of different sized balls. Dip them in the paint and roll them over the paper to make different patterns.
Shredded Paper
Let the children play with shredded paper.
Gloop (Cornflour and Water)
We need
Cornflour
Water
Set up
Mix the cornflour with water on a messy tray until it turns into a thick paste. Let the children explore the paste with a range of materials. You can also add glitter or food colouring to it.
OR
Pour cornflour as well as water onto the messy tray but let the children mix it with the spoons so they can watch how dry and wet transforms into this funny paste.
Phew. This is currently all I can think off when it comes to Messy Play. If you have any ideas I haven’t thought of please post.
And now its time to enjoy the weekend.
