Messy play ideas,

[jingleyjen]

with a friend in the village we have just started a messy play M&T group.

there were a few ladies at our first session with babies about 1 year old. They didn't feel that what we had provided catered for them..

so can anyone suggest some messy play, crafty type ideas for very little ones.
we had finger painting, play dough, salt dough to make hand prints, paddling pool full of spaghetti.(plus things for older children.)

I can see their point but I can't think if things for much younger children.

Anyone got any ideas?

bump

difficult one... um... sand?

one thing DS2 loved at nursery was they would fill a tray with corn flour and water mixture for them to play with - interesting texture I believe

did you ask them what they wanted?

for one years old , it sounds like you provided lots of good stuff. it is more about exploring textures at that age isn;t it?

sand always good

big roll of lining paper on the floor for footprints.

water play

ooh goop is on the list for next week..

we tried foot prints on lining paper yesterday but the littlies didn.t want to do it.

sand is something we are going to be able to do in the future.

They are first time mums and were looking to us for inspiration!

will keep thinking.. any more idea's greatfully received

i see, PFB syndrome

like all the things you are doing aare not enough for their little lambs? in the nicest possible way

little ones just like to squish and hold and pat stuff. doesn;t have to be massively creative

hahhahahahahahaahahahaaaaaaa

if those activities are not suitable for the PFBs then 1 year olds are too young really

they are on the verge of being too young tbh

but playing with paint, doughs, foods is great

sand can be eaten

water and splash mats?

I agree Twig & Lulu but I feel a bit unable to say - for F*&k sake just take her socks off and see if she likes squidging it in the paint.... even if that is what I am thinking.

we have been donated some huge pieces of felt left over from a conference.. any thing we could do with that// the things I can think of are more fun baby things rather than messy play.. (I was going to make an eyespy quilt)

velcro the babies to the felt?

dunno, they should be glad that someone is going to all teh trouble to make such great things for them to do

playgroups are a thankless task

Of course 1 year olds aren't too young for messy play.
My dd is under 1 and she loves sitting in a pit of shredded paper and throwing it all over the place, she also likes big trays of water full of toys and dolls - the older children pretend to bathe the dollies and my dd either watches them or plays with the toys. She's never drank the water or tried to eat the shredded paper.

I know one nursery who put the babies in a pit of baked beans as part of messy play!

And what about letting them do a bit of baking (if they eat teh dough, so be it), or drawing with big chunky crayons (once I showed my dd that crayon was for making patterns on the paper, she didn't try to eat it).

Messy play is such fun!

How about playing with a big tray of rice or birdseed. Interesting texture, fun to pour from container to container, PFBs don't get messy and relatively easy to clean up.

Older kids like making 'potions'. Provide lots of bowls of things with different textures, e.g. water (cold, warm, soapy, coloured), flour, sand, glitter, bark, salt, powder paint, oil etc. Give the children bowls and spoons and let them 'bake'.

Water play with cups and funnels etc for pouring are usually popular with 1yos. Make sure the mums know to bring several changes of clothes

Some ideas here

glitter jelly

shaving foam on table with little cars to drive through

compost in trays with little diggers to drive through

potato printing

sponge printing

last messy place i used to take my son to everyone took an apron for their child and a change of clothes expecting them to be covered head to toe. thats what mess play groups are for...get it out their systems....

What about jelly ? My dd loved squishing her fingers through jelly - plus it's safe if they decide to taste it

And you can get it in lots of lovely bright colours for added attraction and interest.