Nursery- Messy Stay and Play

Nursery held a 'Messy Stay & Play' session; parents were invited to come and play with their child. The session promoted messy play at home, there were a variety of activities set up in the outdoor and indoor learning environments. Thank you to those parents who attended. 

Below are some ideas on how to support messy play at home:

Digging and Pouring         Instead of using a free standing sand/water tray, you could try a washing up bowl or roasting tin. Use household objects such as jugs, spoons, sieves, scoops and funnels to explore sand and water. Add bubble bath to your water tray.

Tray Activities All children love to touch and explore new things. Place some of the following into trays and let the children put their hands in: Jelly  Cornflour Porridge oats mixed with water Shaving foam ·Whipped snow (2 cups of warm water/1 cup of pure laundry soap or flakes)          Hair gel Encourage language throughout the activities, giving meaning to the descriptive words such as squeeze, drip and slime.

Paint Free painting- allow children to freely experiment with paint, brushes and paper. Mixing colour.   Printing- use anything you feel is suitable to paint with (cars, corks, string, spaghetti, cotton reels, sponges, blow up balloons, hands, feet).

Using Food Cooked spaghetti, you could add food colouring to the water to make it look more interesting. To extend the activity offer the children child friendly scissors to cut up the spaghetti. Use a potato masher to explore mash potato or garden peas. Tinned vegetables such as baked beans, tinned tomatoes, peas or carrots, all provide a great opportunity for sensory exploration as the child squishes and makes marks. Dried rice and pasta provide the opportunity to encourage the use of mathematical language throughout play.

Playdough Here is a simple recipe: 1 cup of plain flour 1 cup of water 1 tablespoon cooking oil 2 teaspoons cream of tartar Half a cup of salt Put all ingredients in a large microwaveable bowl, and put it in the microwave for 3 minutes, stirring regularly until it forms a ball. Keep it wrapped in cling film or in a covered tub to stop it drying out.

Outside Homemade Bubbles 1 cup of shampoo 3 cups of water Mix together, add wands and go! ·         Welly Boot Printing Stand in paint with boots on and walk along lining paper. Walking over bubble wrap.  Fill a balloon with coloured water and freeze. Once frozen burst the balloon and place the ice in the tray. You could try freezing items into the ice. Create your own mud kitchen.