Road testing our takeaway service

Earlier this month we launched our takeaway service, allowing our customers to hire out some of our messy play equipment to create their own messy memories at home.

Before sending the kit out to families we wanted to show you what a typical set up would look like and how to use equipment. So we set about clearing some space in the garden and set it up which took less 10 minutes. The boys were then entertained for the day and loved it barely giving me any time to actually finish setting it up before getting stuck in!

For the first tuff tray we set up some chocolate cloud dough and the boys chose some farm animals to go with it. Cloud dough is a favourite activity in this house with both my boys enjoying it. They will either add toy animals or simply some cup and spoons to scoop and pour. Cloud dough is such a simple material and has many benefits for children including:

• Creativity
• Fine Motor Development
• Hand-Eye Coordination and Control

Also, cloud dough apparently makes a perfect bed for farm animals ‘shhhh they are sleeping’

For the second tuff tray we used some coloured rice and sea set for a sunny tea party.

It wasn’t long before my littlest mess maker decided he wanted to add some ice cream cones to the rice and the activity moved on to become an ice cream making game.

Coloured rice is another versatile messy activity and a quick set up, simply pour out on the tray and away you go! Of course you can easily shape it to match the theme of the activity if you are feeling creative. Then add different toys or simply some cups and spoons again for more filling and pouring out.

Again, like cloud dough rice has many benefits for a child’s development and after use it can simply be swept up and stored in an air tight container or sealed bag and it will last for ages! The rice we have been using was made back in February so has been enjoyed lots and lots to date.

Our third activity was in one our new tub trugs which are a new addition to our equipment and I think I actually prefer them to the tuff trays! For today we added our water beads to the tub trug and throughout the day the boys added different toys to play with the beads.

Water beads are a great sensory activity for both children and adults alike. They can be scooped, poured, simply run your fingers through or stick your feet in and experience the cooling sensation of the beads. You could even add some tongs and set your child the challenge of separating the different colours.

Finally the channel set was set up simply with some balls to roll down although my boys enjoyed rolling the pig and other farm animals down them, giving them the giggles for a good 10 minutes of fun!

 

These 4 activities kept my boys happy and busy for the whole morning. They were able to move between each of the activities as they wanted and mixed up the toys which changed the play slightly and helped to keep them engaged.

After Lunch and naps we decided to change the activities around, putting the cloud dough and rice away we added play dough and shaving foam instead.

This then kept them busy for another couple of hours and gave them some different experiences.

My two really enjoyed having our messy play set up for the day, while we often messy play at home this is usually restricted to one activity at a time which keeps them occupied for a short time but they quickly move on to something else. What I found with this was that it kept them interested all day. Because there was more than one thing for them to do they could play together on one but then play separately on different ones. There was no pressure on me to clean it all up until the end of the day and I could actually sit in the sun for a cup of tea!

So if you are missing our events, running out of ideas for keeping the little ones entertained or even planning a socially distanced play date for those little friends in your garden (following the latest Government advice) or a lockdown birthday celebration then why not enquire about our kit hire.

There are LOADS more Messy play and craft ideas over at our blog.

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