Activities involving messy/sensory play?

[Nuttyaboutnutella]

My son is 2. He's a little behind developmentally and barely plays with toys. However, I've recently discovered that he loves sensory/messy play. Can anyone give ideas on activities I can do with him around this?

I give him utensils/cups for rice, mud, water, etc but is there anything else I can do with him, especially to 'teach' him things such as colours? I really do lack imagination with this stuff!

I used lots of food with mine as it didn't matter if it ended up being eaten. Jelly in different colours, yoghurt paint, rainbow rice, slimy spaghetti, crunchy cereals etc. You can also use household things like shaving foam, ice, bottle shakers, glitter jars etc.

I love this website for ideas: theimaginationtree.com/category/age/agebaby/

Are you on Pinterest? It has thousands of ideas if you search 'diy sensory play' or 'baby messy play'.

My youngest loves making gloop,flour,water food colouring.we make different colours each time .also treasure baskets with feathers, pringles tubs filled with lentils and sealed and any other noisy/touchy feely items we have a around. X

Finger painting - dipping hands/fingers into paint and then making prints onto paper.
Another fun way - you need a smooth plastic surface that doesn't matter - eg a tray Cover in a layer of thick powder paint and then you can draw in the patterns - if the paint is thick enough, the pattern remains. If you than place a sheet of paper over and press (pat lightly) you get a print of the pattern on the paper.
Playing with cornflour mixed into a paste (I'm sure there will be something on google about the quantities)
Play dough - you can make your own in different colours - recipes on google

Sand tray/pit
Lots of bath toys

Play Hooray on Instagram and Facebook has been my saviour since having a baby, loads of great ideas for play.

Play dough is brilliant!

Look up Facebook tuff tray groups.

Squirty cream and food colouring
Shaving foam and hair gel!
Heinz Alphabetti is good for teaching letter recognition
Cook up a big saucepan of porridge and let it go cold. Add some food colouring and it turns into a fantastic squelchy messy play activity, especially with little toys hidden! I do the same with custard and with mashed potato using a packet of instant smash! Polenta works well too, as does cooked couscous or cooked spaghetti.
I always add food colouring when I’m using food for messy play so that it’s unrecognisable from the food that they eat. I don’t want my dc to start playing with their food at the dinner table.