What are the benefits of Messy Play?
Learn more about why we think Messy Play is a fantastic way for your little one to learn. Have you heard it can also help fussy eaters!
Is it just for fun?
Messy play can be an integral part of your child’s learning, cognitive, creative, language and sensory development. Messy play can be created in a class environment or in the comfort of your home, carried out by you as a parent or caregiver, a teacher or class instructor and is suitable for any age from birth onwards (however we wait until over 6 months or actively sitting to join our Messy Play Activity Classes). By exploring various modes of materials, textures, temperatures, objects etc, your child is able to develop and learn on many levels:
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
During messy play, your child will discover different textures and sensations of materials through the exploration of experiments, numbers, shapes, sizes, problem-solving, equations, gravity etc. He/ She will gain an insight and understanding of mathematics and science. Consequently, allowing the cognitive part of your child’s brain to develop.
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Through pretend, make-believe and imaginative play, your child’s language will start to develop and improve. By using descriptive words with your child to explain and detail the texture/ colour/ size/ temperature of a material or object, your child’s vocabulary will begin to flourish and grow. Your child’s language skills will develop even further with the use of adjectives as you’ll be able to see them using descriptive language to their vocabulary.
SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Whether it be 1:1 play or group play, your child’s social and emotional development will be supported with the practice of messy play. He/ She may learn to play as part of a group, becoming aware of teamwork and the importance of sharing. Alternatively, He/ She may develop the skills to play and work alone, helping to aid their personal emotional needs and self-awareness.
CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT
Creativity plays an important role to help your child to become unique, independent and their own person. Imagination, exploration and the freedom to explore with the use of messy play, really helps him/ her to develop the creative skills through learning and gives them an idea of their likes and dislikes at the same time
SENSORY DEVELOPMENT
From handprints with paint to holding a crayon, from hand scooping up dried rice to threading a piece of dried pasta: Messy play helps your child’s development on many levels by helping to develop their gross motor skills, fine motor skills, hand /eye coordination and manual dexterity. Messy play helps to access a wide range of skills to help your child develop physically, mentally and emotionally, as well as being fun and helping to build strong connections and relationships for the whole family or for anyone involved.
The correlation between Messy Play and Fussy eating
The lips, tongue and inside of the mouth have thousands of nerve receptors, for some children trying new foods, tastes and textures can be a sensory overload. Allowing your child to play with various messy play textures can help them become comfortable with different sensations. Here are some fun messy play ideas you can try at home:
Ice Paint & paint brushes
Shaving foam
Cornflour, food colouring and water
Baked beans in sauce
Or better still, come and join us in a Messy Play Activity Class and leave the mess behind!
