messy play messes me up

[chuggabo]

Please help me find a way to cope. I have a ds who is nearly 2. I want to be able to do more messy play and craft activities with him, but I am struggling.

We live in a rented flat so have no garden, our kitchen is a galley style small space that is gated off as it isn't safe for him to go in, which I guess leaves the lounge, where his toys live.

I can deal with the plastic tat being all round the room, but for some reason mess is making me anxious. I know I spoon feed my boy more than other mothers do at his age. I tried to do some crayoning with him this morning on the coffee table and him scribbling and throwing the colours on the table (totally normal I know) just really upset me and I had to take the colours away.

I don't want to squash his creativity, or stiffle his development. I just can't seem to relax and just let him do it. Please tell me I'm not alone...

If anyone has any ideas I could try please share them. Thank you.

I used to just take mine to toddler groups and let them do it there.

Yes, get to toddler groups. Hell while you are there of course. But a good place to get messy.

Have you got an aqua draw? They are quite good. And old fashioned magic painting books.

Play doh is more easily contained than paint. And you can play in the bath or shower with empty bottles.

Do you have a bath?

I always avoided seriously messy play for similar reasons to you. Instead we did a lot of junk modelling, basically using rubbish and scraps of material to make things glued together with glue stick.

Aqua doodle is another good one, they're big mats you draw on with water filled pens, the picture fades as it dries so it can be used over and over. Like painting but nothing more than a bit of water to mop up at the end.

I also bought DD a plastic tray with quite steep sides and taught her that play dough was to only ever be used on the tray. It worked to a certain extent, but I still usually put something under the tray.

Another one I used to do was cut pictures out of old magazines and catalogues and let DD make collages with the cut outs, again using glue stick.

Go to a toddler group let him get messy there I've never done messy play with mine at home the thought of it alone fills me with dread

Aqua doodle is great and I second the toddler groups. They can do really messy activities and it has no impact on your home.
Painting in the bath is a good idea too. Then you can just shower ds and the bath clean at the same time.

The bath and aquadraw. Great ideas.

Yes toddler group looks like the best way forward for playdo and the like.

Having just come off the phone with my mum... Turns out I was never allowed any messy play. No toddler groups or mess for my mum. "Why make work for yourself when there is more cleaning you should be doing" were her words. Quite sad for toddler me.

Thanks for your replies.

Is the kitchen not safe with supervision? Kitchen sink with water and a few bowls/cups is good. Ds loves to stir flour around in a bowl, and will help mix in raisins and sugar when making scones. We have a step from ikea that brings him up to counter height.

I agree that toddler groups/bath/aqua mats are good. There are actually some nice sensory/themed bath ideas out there where you can add colours and stuff! 'Clean mess' is quite good too; you can use an electric whip and some food colouring to whip up coloured foam out of washing up liquid and water. Dry things like pasta have value as sensory play but are very easy to clean up.

Other tip would be to have him do colouring/playdoh at his booster seat at the table. That way he is 'contained' and he can't get it all over the house. I also do messy play on an old table cloth on the floor of the kitchen - very easy to clean up after.

Toddler group and pre-school are for messy play. They usually have the space and wipe clean surfaces. We've never really done it at home.

A bag of chunky chalks to take to the park is good as well when it's dry.

Have you got Pinterest? Look up mess-free messy play :)

I'm not a fan of messy play either - and now have mess-averse 4yo and heading that way 17mo. But it can be a toddler thing too.

We're going to a sure start art class tomorrow. What about an easel? Might contain it a bit more. Sensory play doesn't have to be messy, either, and that's one of the main parts about messy play.

I keep crayons in the bathroom so my daughter can mess about with them while I'm in the shower. Also, my hope is that keeping them in there will prevent crayon incidents elsewhere in the house!

YY to previous ideas about water and tubs, we do some water play in the kitchen. Bubbles are also ok indoors. I tried doing paint in cling film but that really didn't work!

My daughters nursery does a lot of hiding things (plastic toys, happyland people etc) in a tub of shaving foam, which seems to go down well. I've been meaning to give that a shot.

Lots of good ideas here, but I also think that it's great to just learn to enjoy and embrace the mess if possible. Maybe your anxiety about mess comes from your mum's discomfort with it, and you can figure out how to have fun with it now that you are aware of this? Can you cover your table and floor with an old drop sheet (which you just quickly chuck somewhere between uses) which will protect your furniture ?

Sometimes people are uncomfortable with creative toddler mess just because they are unfamiliar with it, and relax once they get used to the idea. Also, very importantly, I find that young children who do a lot of creative play actually are not all that messy; they become more purposeful over time, and actually want the paint to go on the paper, not on the floor. Just like kids who are allowed to use knives at a relatively young age are able to use them safely.

Do you do messy things outside? Play in the mud at the park? Let him paint the pavements with water in the summer? Use chalk outside? Pick up lots of odds and ends outside and make collections of leaves and pebbles?