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Anyone know any good messy play we can do with our baby and toddler?

7 replies

Ragtaggle · 29/07/2006 15:06

Ten months has passed and they are still at each others throats. We would like to spend the afternoon indulging in some messy play with them both to help them bond. What do you mix cornflour with? Does anyone have any other ideas that will entertain a 10 month old and a two years and ten month year old?

OP posts:
waterfalls · 29/07/2006 16:09

Large sheets of paper in the garden, and do some foot and hand prints with paint.

NotQuiteCockney · 29/07/2006 16:31

Cornflour and water. Very easy, really incredible. Not that hard to cleanup, but I'd do it outside.

Charlking is good, too, but your baby might be too young to enjoy it?

chestnutty · 29/07/2006 16:54

Just a large paint brush and a pot of water. They can "paint" all they want and never run out of room - one end of patio/ yard/driveway will be dry by the time thay reach the other side.

Dippyhen · 14/08/2006 21:29

Hi Ragtaggle. Here's some ideas to help, not all messy, but in my experience, very worthwhile as they're open-ended enough to allow two different ages to play. They probably won't play much 'with' each other (mine didn't at that age, anyway) but hopefully will be interested in their own thing enough to give you a lovely peaceful time! Anyway, first a handy tip;
A folding wallpaper paste table, (about £8 from our local DIY store) legs cut down to toddler height, makes a great space for them to move around and saves chairs & laps from falling debris when doing messy things. Even better in the garden!!! It can be covered with one sweep of old wallpaper, masking taped to prevent slipping (no newspaper needed), this can then be either covered with subsequent layers as needed, or just removed in one roll to your recycling bin!

Generous splodges of paint dolloped onto table top by adult can be explored with fingers, corks, (so long as 10 monther doesn't eat them)brushes, combs, cotton wall balls...(I've found a choice of two things at a time means they really explore, too many is too daunting)

Paint splodges can be patted with semi-inflated balloons, driven through with toy cars, or add cooked cooled spaghetti for some squishy moments.

Pieces of guttering and a selection of small cars or balls (again, depends on 10monthers eating habits!!) are good; gutters can be propped to make a slope. It is amazing how endlessly fascinating this seems to be, and how quickly the older ones try to put pieces of guttering end to end to make longer travelling times possible! (If indoors, recommend rolled up towels along the bottom of sofas, tv cabinet etc to save endless retrieval of rolling stock!)

Baby baths,(very cheap second hand)pieces of clear tubing (available from fish shops at about a £1 a metre), funnels, small empty bottles, jugs, water coloured with food colouring. Cover floor with towels first if you have to do it indoors, but best outside.

Minds gone blank now, if I think of anything else I'll let you know!

worcestercaroline · 30/10/2006 21:45

Lux soap flakes mixed well with a bit of water and u can add food colouring.
Crazy soap from tesco or asda, can make it into a ball and throw it.
Cooked spaghetti in a tray or bowl just let them play with it.

DrFrankenZooey · 30/10/2006 21:49

Cooked spaghetti is just marvellous and it's fine if it gets eaten

I would put them in an empty bath for cornflour and water at this time of year, then just rinse it all away

Ripping up newspaper or magazines is fun as long as not too much gets eaten

and playing with jelly is very therapeutic - if you make it quite sloppy it limits the amount your baby will be able to eat

MammyM · 08/11/2006 21:44

My dh used to work in a nursery and mentioned that they played with big bowls of jelly, tried with our kids and they absolutley loved it! Something to do with being 'tactile rich' also, again, not especially messy but try a big piece of sticky back plastic and a variety of sticky bits such as feathers, sequins etc to make nice collage pictures. Different ages can get different things from it. Also we have taken aforementioned sticky back plastic to the woods and stuck on different varieties of leaves that we found, we did it last year and this year we've been identifying them!

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