5 Easy Messy Play Ideas
Messy play is so important for all kids (I would argue for adults too!). It lets them explore, and get curious, and figure out how the world works in an open ended, child led way. It's great for brain development, as well as fine motor skills. It's also suuuuuuuuper fun!
If mess is triggering for you, then maybe do these activities in the garden, or on a plastic sheet, or even in the bath so that you can wash it down afterwards.
Final thought - we live in a very visually connected world, and there's always such a pull on us to take beautifully crafted photos of our kids playing the activities that we set up for them. I totally get this, and I understand how hard it can feel to be hands off, but particularly with messy play, try to let them lead the way. If you want to take pictues, then let them be purely observational, from a distance. The best learning is often when it looks like they're being entirely unproductive.
Finger Painting
Top tip - buy washable paint, and put an apron on them before starting.
Just get some paper or card, and some paints, and let them run wild exploring. They're probably going to mix up all the colours, and create something very abstract, but that's great. Try and step back from giving them hints, and just let them do what feels fun for them.
Try putting interesting items near them that they can discover, and play with mark making - toy cars, leaves, stamps, sponges. Anthing with an interesting shape or pattern.
Jelly
It's squishy, it's wobbly, it's kinda solid, but kinda liquid too. And best of all, it's delicious! Trying to figure out how to pick it up without it all squishing and falling apart is great for fine motor skills.
Jelly's particularly great with little ones who you know are going to put everything they find straight in their mouths.
Jelly's also great, because you can put other things in to set in there, so maybe some tinned fruits, or if they're a little older, then some plastic toys. There's some great ideas on instagram of people using jelly to make things like antarctic scenes, with little penguins set inside the jelly. SO FUN!
Mud Cakes
If I had a pound for every pile of twigs and soil that I've had to "mmmmm, delicious . . ." my way through over the years.
There's a huge temptation to make a mud kitchen, and make it very organised, and cutesy. Maybe that suits your kid's personality, but I've always found that they have the most fun when you simply leave out a bunch of pots and pans and old utensils, and let them know where they can gather 'ingredients' (soil, twigs, leaves etc) from.
Honestly, they don't need you to spend a ton of money making this a beautiful activity. Just taking a spade, and a bucket into the woods and letting them explore will delight them.
Shaving Foam
It's so squishy, and fun, and vesatile. It can be mixed with other things to create interesting textures. The downside is that it is of course, not edible, so it might not be the best activity for super little ones, and adult supervision is required.
You could try filling a tub with it, or playing with it in the bathroom. Try combining it with coloured ice cubes. Mix it with food colouring, or washable paint to make different colours. Hide objects under the foam and give them tweezers or scoops to pick them out. Mix it with sand to get a weird gritty texture.
Rainbow Spaghetti
Great for developing those hand muscles, great for a sensory activity, and suitable for eating.
Cook and drain however much spaghetti you want. Then you're going to want a ziplock bag per colour.
Divide the spaghetti into the bags, adding a little food colouring and a couple of drops of water to each. Get your little one to help you squish the bags, throw them about, work it until all the spaghetti in all the bags are covered.
Use a colander to rinse the spaghetti, so that you don't get covered in food dye.
Then just put it all in a container or a tub, and let them play!
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