The words "MESSY PLAY" can make parents shudder thinking of the clear up involved afterwards!
But there really are so many benefits to the sensory experiences of Messy Play from hand-eye co-ordination to language development.
This blog details a few different ideas for messy play at home. And if you don't fancy the clear up why not join us at one of our Messy Play mornings and leave the clean up to us!
What are the benefits of Messy Play?
Messy play encourages fine and gross motor skills, hand-eye coordination, creativity, problem solving, language development and building relationships with others.
Messy play materials can include sand, water, clay, glue, paint and many other items that you may have at home. Very young children tend to explore textures by mouthing them so it's important to use suitable ingredients/items based on the age of the child.
At Goslings, we have a few tried, tested and loved ideas for messy play, our children are preschool age between 2 and 4 years of age:
SLIME:
Free our sea creatures from the slimey gloop: Sea creatures submerged in a loose slimey gloop or even just in coloured waters works really well. Gloop can be made with cornflower and water or by purchasing a non toxic slime mix that is mixed with warm water. Warning this can get very messy!
MUD:
Mud Mud Glorious Mud - our mud smells delicious it is made with cocoa and cornflower adding warm water until you reach the right consistency. We like to create a farm scene with our mud using shredded wheat as hay stacks to add a different texture to explore.
PASTA:
Pasta is a brilliant item to use and it doesn't taste bad either! We like to use food colouring and create different scenes from dinosaurs to bugs that need to be freed from the tangly spaghetti.
PAINT:
We love exploring different ways to mark-make with paint. Using cars and other shapes to make tracks and making beautiful personalised art using our hand and footprints.
SHAVING FOAM:
Shaving foam is a great texture to play with and can create a wonderful Arctic scene. We also like to add colours and glitter. Our children love to explore the texture and the different colour mixes.
We hope you enjoy trying out some of these ideas at home. One additional benefit of messy play during the summer is it can be done outside!
Our next Messy Play morning will be held during the autumn term - come along and enjoy our messy play set up without the clear up!
We also include messy play within the playgroup which is open during term time and offers sessions for preschool aged children from 2 years of age. Please do click the buttons below to find out more or contact us for our availability.
