Benefits of Messy Play
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“Not…the hair!” I shout as Hatte dips her long ponytail into a big, muddy puddle on our driveway. But her joyful screams and adorable giggles soon make me realize I needed to take a step back and just let her play. She loves to find all of the puddles after it rains and splashes in each one, but the big puddle on our gravel drive is her favorite.
I realize some people are probably thinking I’m crazy for letting her go wild in the mud, but in my defense, it’s actually really great for kids to go outside and get dirty! Messy play has a ton of benefits, which can help improve kids’ gross and fine motor skills, help foster creativity and independence, improve hand-eye coordination, balance, and spatial awareness. Who knew playing the mud could be so important?!
If you’re struggling with how to get your kids engaged in messy outdoor play, here are some ideas:
Mud pies
Find some old kitchen utensils and pans, get out the hose and make a nice muddy area for your kids to “bake” pies in. They can practice scooping the mud into the containers and then pretend to bake them! Add rocks and sticks for garnish!
Washing animals
This is a favorite around our house. We have a set of plastic horses that are just for outside, so we’ll get them dirty in the sand or mud and then I fill up her water table with soapy water and let her wash them off. I let her use a small travel toothbrush for a scrubber, but you could use any small brush or sponge. If you don’t have a water table, a plastic storage bin or large mixing bowl works great too. We love our Step 2 Splash Pond water table. It’s still going strong after almost three years and she plays with it almost daily in warmer weather.
Sand box
If you have one, try mixing it up by adding plastic toys, dinos or different scoopers. If you don’t have one, you can designate a spot in the yard for the kids to dig around in. Add some buckets, shovels, old spoons, and plastic toys and they’re good to go! Tip: mix a cup or a small container of cinnamon into the sand to keep the bugs and critters out. We have snakes in the country, so we also put a bag of mothballs underneath to keep them away. It smells for a few days, but it goes away quickly. We have the Step 2 Play and Store Sandbox and it’s been great for the past few years. Very sturdy and just the right size to fit on our back porch.
Painting
Give your kids some washable finger paint and let them paint on large sheets of paper. When we do this, I set it all up inside of our plastic kiddie pool and she knows that she can get messy in the pool – and even paint herself if she wants – and it’s all contained and fairly easy to clean. This also gives kids an opportunity to try fun, new things like painting with their toes!
Shaving cream
Find an old muffin tin and squirt shaving cream into each compartment. Then, mix a drop or two of food coloring to create shaving cream “paint”. Find a few larger-sized paint brushes and set it all inside of a plastic kiddie pool or on the driveway. The kids can paint on paper or let them go wild and paint each other. Then, hose everything down when they’re done! The texture of the shaving cream is so much fun to squish! They could also paint plastic animals and then wash them off.
There are so many wonderful possibilities for messy play and most of them can be done with things you already have in your home. So, the next time your kids are feeling cooped up, send them outside and embrace the mess!
