Messy Play

shipsshoessealingwax

Do y'all do messy play at home w/ your LO(s)? It seems like everyone I know either:
1. Avoids it entirely, or
2. Thinks it's a "school" (daycare) thing & they shouldn't have to deal w/ the mess.

We do sensory activities ALL the time. My son loves it & it is such a great bonding opportunity!

I get that everyone has their "thing" & crafts aren't everyone's cup of tea, but I do lots of stuff w/ my son that I'm not super into b/c I want him to form his own opinions of those things & I think that variety is good for him. I dunno, it just makes me kinda sad I guess.

What are your favorite (& least favorite!) activities to do w/ your kids?

Jbunny100

We just started playing with these gel cubes.  You typically use them for flowers and stuff.  They hydrate in water and grow about 10x the size they are in the packet.  DS LOVES them.  It is the first thing that I've found where he plays 30+ minutes on it.  I have a large pot full of them with some water.  He uses my handheld strainers to pick them up, but he really just adores squishing them in his hands.  It makes a huge mess with water and tiny pieces of the cubes, but cleans up fairly easily.

shipsshoessealingwax

Jbunny - Like water beads? How old is your son? Tapioca pearls also work well for that type of play & are edible, so it's no issue if they get eaten!

We made Oobleck today (cornstarch + water) that was so cool!! We also do a lot of painting w/ watercolors, finger paint, tempera paint, edibles like pudding, etc. Play doh. Stickers. Markers & crayons. Buckets of Jello. Like I said, I *really* like this sort of thing LMAO

Jbunny100

@LittleLuvBug - Yes, like water beads.  You find them in the floral aisle.  They are non-toxic at least which is good.  DS is 17 months.  He doesn't put things in his mouth anymore which is why I got those.  I didn't even think of tapioca pearls.  We also started using play-doh.

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NDarya

I haven't started it yet but I'm planning to soon. My DS is a little shy of 16mo but still puts everything in his mouth. I love the tapioca idea I will try this first. Following this link for more ideas. Thanks ladies! 

smileybabyboy

LittleLuvBug said:

Jbunny - Like water beads? How old is your son? Tapioca pearls also work well for that type of play & are edible, so it's no issue if they get eaten! We made Oobleck today (cornstarch + water) that was so cool!! We also do a lot of painting w/ watercolors, finger paint, tempera paint, edibles like pudding, etc. Play doh. Stickers. Markers & crayons. Buckets of Jello. Like I said, I *really* like this sort of thing LMAO

What a great idea!!  Wish my 2 year old son was more interested in getting messy. I love that stuff!  

shipsshoessealingwax

@Nicb13‌ - Have you tried keeping a pack of wipes at the desk / easel for him? That way he can clean as he goes. You could also try crayons, painting in a bag, play doh, & water / bubble play which don't feel as "messy" but still give great sensory experiences.

greyt00

Nicb13 said:

LittleLuvBug said:

@Nicb13‌ - Have you tried keeping a pack of wipes at the desk / easel for him? That way he can clean as he goes. You could also try crayons, painting in a bag, play doh, & water / bubble play which don't feel as "messy" but still give great sensory experiences.

The wipes are actually a great idea and I hadn't thought of that.

He does love arts and crafts and does paint with my mom. He has crayons, play doh and stamps at our house that he likes but he gets all stressed when it's on his hands. He also hates walking through dirt or getting dirt in his sandals. I've never seen a kid freak out so much over getting dirty! I keep trying though and introducing him to new activities.

Mine are like this.  They might get it from me.  I hate being dirty, sweaty, having messy hands, things stuck to me, and I really cannot stand dirt under fingernails.  But I wasn't like that as a kid!  I'm relieved DS2 will touch sand now and play-doh now.  But he doesn't like stuff on his hands in general (such as icing, he is pretty unhappy about that).  I despise play-doh but I'm letting him play with it almost as often as he wants.  He always points out when a little bit of one color gets stuck to another color.  *sigh*