Five Fantastic Messy Play Ideas For Home!

Five simple but fun Messy Play ideas for home!

It’s no secret that we LOVE mess here at Mess Around and our events are always larger than life, but we quite often hear mums and dads asking about ideas they can do at home.
You quite obviously aren’t going to set up the 14 plus activities that we do at one of our sessions but here is our Top Five activities that are easy to set up and will keep your little one occupied for more than 5 minutes!

 

1. Coloured Rice.

This is so easy to make and can be prepped at any time, it will keep for months if kept dry and in a sealed container so a perfect go to activity if needed at last minute. Babies love the feel of it on their fingers and toes, plus it’s taste safe. Your toddler will spend hours pouring, scooping and playing make believe with it.

To make it all you need to do is add some vinegar to dry rice and stir to coat it all, then add your food colouring. We use Preema powders (mixed with a small amount of water) as this gives a really vibrant colour, spread out an a tray and leave to dry. You can add pots, pans tea set, cups, bowls, spoons, ladles – anything really it is such a versatile material. Check out some of our trays.

2. Cloud Dough

This is one of my favourite materials, it feels amazing! It’s malleable and so easy to make too, plus again this will keep if not contaminated.  You can also appeal to lots of senses by adding colour or fragrance too.

To make you will need a bag of flour in a bowl and then add some vegetable oil and mix, you are looking for a consistency where by the flour sticks together when squeezed and then falls apart when prodded! You can mix it up by adding colour (powder paint) cocoa powder for a totally chocolatey delight, coconut, peppermint essence, or any flavouring that takes your fancy. Glitter also looks fab in this!

Your little one will love using rolling pins, cup cake cases, cookie cutters, playdough presses or small world toys to play in the cloud dough and once finished just scoop up and put in a Tupperware!

 

3. Water/ice

Yup, this is an absolute favourite with almost EVERY child! You don’t have to get the paddling pool out either. The kitchen sink (with a safe step) works just as well or simply a washing up bowl on the floor. Add baby bath on a sponge with a little water to give a real foamy experience, let them wash up all the equipment they have used in messy play time too!

A bag of ice cubes is a great experience for them. Add some penguins or polar creatures, some snap snaps makes a great game too. You could go even further and freeze small items in a balloon of water and let them work out how to free the item!

 

4. Gloop

This is such a favourite of mine, and it would seem many of the parents at our sessions love it too and quite often be found playing with it! To give it it’s scientific name Ooblek is one of those materials that amazes young and old alike with its ability to turn from solid to liquid just by being picked up! It is so easy to make too. All you need is cornflour and water! Add water to the cornflour and mix – you are looking for a stiff mixture that will pour when tipped. If you want to add some colour then powder food colouring works brilliantly or for that extra sensory experience add some cocoa powder!

You could add some plastic bugs, or diggers or just let them poke, pat and squeeze

 

 

5. Soap Slime

We use this with our guttering at our sessions but your little ones will love to just squelch it in a tub. It’s easy to make (although does need making ahead of play) and if not contaminated will last a few days. All you need is a bar of soap (*not Dove)  Grate the bar of soap into a tray add any food colour that you want and then add a kettle full of boiling water. Now you need to whisk it for a good 5 minutes. Then leave it to cool giving it a goof whisk every minute or so. It will set hard. It is now ready to play with. Once it has set it will keep for a week or two. To make the slime when you are ready to play then add a thumbnail depth of warm water and mush together with your hands.

This slime is great to send down guttering, to pick up with cups, or spoons or to just try to pick up with hands. You could add plastic balls or rubber ducks for some extra fun

 

I hope you have found these ideas useful! We would love to see your little ones at play with the “mess” why not share your pictures over at our Facebook page or Instagram page (#messyplay #borntomessaround #messaroundltd)

Have a super messy week everyone!