Do you do messy play with your 16 month old?

[tory79]

If so, what, how often and how?!

It has been suggested it might help my ds with his apparent dislike of eating anything messy, but I feel a bit clueless about this as I thought he was a bit young for this, nothing really holds his interest for longer than a few minutes plus he's an extreme thrower so any messy play is likely to get MESSY unless I can find a fairly foolproof method of protection! We would have to do this in the dining room so carpeted etc.

Thanks

We do the odd bit of painting, but he mostly does that at nursery . Stuff like cornflour (wet and dry) and shaving foam. And home-made play dough.

How about getting some messy mats (£4 from Tesco I think) or some of the slot-together foam flooring?

Or put him in his high chair and use the tray? Then he is clipped in and the mess contained? This is how we do painting.

Have a bath and towel ready!

P.S. it will only be for a few minutes!

no, he was messy enough without messy play! He also hated touching food and getting his hands dirty but has no issues now (this is DS1, DS2 has no problems with picking up food and I didn't do messy play with him either!)

We do some of our messy play (particularly with water) in the bathroom. They love tubs of water with a bit of food colouring in it. Or gloop (mix up cornflour and water). On the kitchen floor would be fine too - presumably the kitchen isn't carpeted. Sand and mud outside are good when it warms up a bit.

It is true that messy play can overcome anxieties they may have picked up about making a mess with food.