I know sometimes, as parents, we aren’t excited about messy play. Our children tend to love it, but for parents, it can be just another mess that you have to clean up. What if I told you that messy play is valuable to your child’s development? Would that make you think about it a little differently? Well guess what... Messy play is great for your child’s development. Here’s why: Messy play promotes curiosity as your child explores new materials and textures. Messy play promotes fine motor skills, language development as your child is exposed to contextual language, and helps build stronger neural pathways and connections. Messy play also helps develop spatial awareness, hand-eye coordination, and problem solving. So, don’t think about the mess in the end, but all the learning your child is experiencing through messy play! Take a look in the directions for some tips on how to make messy play clean up a little easier!
Materials
- 1 cup flour
- 2 cups water
- 1-2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
- Baking pan to cook the flour on
- Parchment paper
- Mixing bowl
- Spoon or whisk
- Heavy container that your little one can’t slip over (I typically used my 9 x 13 Pyrex dish)
If you are playing inside, you will want to also have:
- Waterproof mat or large plastic table cloth
- Painters’ tape to tape down large plastic table cloth
- Toys and utensils for your child to play with in the mud
Note: These measurements can be changed based off the size of your container. You just want to mix flour, water, and cocoa powder together to get a nice mud consistency.
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Line baking pan with parchment paper and pour flour on top.
- Bake flour in oven for 5 minutes. (It is not advisable to eat raw flour and since this is an edible activity, we want to make sure that the flour is cooked before giving it to our little one.)
- Pour flour, water, and cocoa powder in mixing bowl. Stir until well mixed.
- Pour mud mixture into heavy container.
This is a great outdoor activity; however, if the weather isn’t nice for you like it wasn’t for us, play with the edible mud inside. If you are playing inside, set up the play area:
- Put down your mat or large plastic table cloth. When I use a plastic table cloth folded in half, I also tape the edges down with painters’ tape because Riley likes to pull up the table cloth which spreads the mess.
- Put the mud down in the play area and add in the toys and utensils. For this activity, we used a basting brush, nesting cups, measuring cups, and measuring spoons.
Tips:
- To make messy play easier to clean up, I recommend playing outside whenever possible.
- That isn’t always an option so plan to engage in messy play on days you plan to clean. I chose to do this activity on a day I needed to clean the floors. Good thing to because there was mud all over the floors afterwards.
- Using a waterproof mat or a large plastic table cloth on the floor can help contain the mess. Then you can pop the waterproof mat in the wash. The table cloth can either be wiped down with cleaner or thrown away.
- Strip your little one down to their diaper for messy play so you don’t have to worry about their clothes. You can also put them in old clothes or use an art smock.
- For kids who are older, they can help out with the cleaning. It can be a part of the play. Offer them a tub of soapy water and sponges.
- Have a tray of water nearby that your little ones can splash around in after to help clean themselves off a bit. I did this with the Oobleck activity and it worked out really well!
- Do these activities on bath night. Maybe even right before bath time.
- Play near the tub so you can run your child right to the tub afterwards. Better yet, play in the tub! After this activity, I ran Riley right over to the kitchen sink and gave her a sponge bath.
Riley's experience
Riley had a lot of fun dipping the basting brush into the mud and then shaking it off outside of the play mat. She loves to move the sensory play outside the container that it is in. It is always her number one goal. She used the scoops and spoons to empty the mud on the mat and into her lap. Not long after, she realized that the mud tasted good. Then she began to dip spoons, cups, and the brush in to feed herself. By the end of the activity, she started smacking the surface of the mud causing big splashes! This activity continued into the first 20 minutes of nap time. She was so content just playing in the mud that I didn’t want to make her stop. Once she started to try to crawl through the mud though, I decided it was time to wash her up and put her to bed!
Benefits
- Fine motor skills: Your child is exercising their hand and finger muscles as they grab, manipulate, and use the different toys and utensils to play with in the mud.
- Cognitive development: Sensory play is great for cognitive development because the more senses involved, the stronger the neural pathways and connections are that are made during this play.
- Language development: Narrating for your child what they are doing and experiencing helps build vocabulary and language skills. Your child might hear words such as messy, splash, splatter, brown, mud, chocolate, etc.
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