The benefits of messy play
At First Steps Nursery, messy play forms an integral part of our curriculum, it is a style of play in which children get to take the lead, explore and learn with their hands, and experience a wide variety of textures and materials. It focuses on play-based learning and allows children to learn at their own speed. Messy play can be adapted to meet the individual needs of children and to ensure it is age and stage appropriate.
We know that children learn best when they actively engage with their environment and use all their senses. Young children are in a very concrete stage of development—they need to see and feel the world in order to understand it. By engaging in sensory play they learn about a variety of textures, materials, and properties in the concrete manner they understand best. Toys are fun but they can be restrictive because they have a specific intended use or function. They are good for exploring certain skills, but messy and sensory play with open ended materials like rice, slime, or play dough help children to learn to play independently, increase attention span, provide opportunities to problem solve, and build self-confidence and self-esteem. It also enables children to practice real life skills such as measuring, pouring, experimenting, etc.
There are several benefits to messy play………………..
Cognitive Development
Messy play and sensory play support children’s cognitive development. It offers children a chance to figure things out for themselves and develop problem solving skills. Every time they solve a problem, they reinforce that ability and build self-confidence. Messy play also offers a fun chance for children to learn cause and effect through observation and hands-on experience. By exploring the physical materials, small children develop spatial awareness too.
Mathematical Skills
Messy play and sensory play also develops a variety of mathematical skills. Engaging hands-on activities offer opportunities to count and measure you can also identify and describe shapes, practice matching, and compare objects, all which are early steps in recognizing patterns and learning numbers.
Social Development
Social development is the way children connect with others and learn to get along. When children engage in messy play with others, they learn to collaborate to solve problems together. They will communicate (verbally and non-verbally) to achieve their messy goal. They'll also learn to share tools and space. Messy play is fun for children and it helps support their social development too.
Fine Motor Skills
Another messy play benefit is improving children’s fine motor skills. There are plenty of interesting objects and child-sized tools for children to grasp. Skill including hand-eye coordination, grasp strength, dexterity, and pinching can all be practiced while they use the muscles in their wrists, hands, and fingers to squeeze, scoop, pour, and pick up objects. These fine motor skills lay the foundation for pencil grip and writing skills in the future.
Language Development
Messy play can also support children’s language development. As children play, narrate their actions and describe what they’re doing. This teaches them to use words for description and introduces new vocabulary. During messy play activities you can discuss colour, temperature, texture, weight, shapes, smells, patterns, sounds, etc. Experiencing the meaning of these words first hand will help your child understand them.
Here are some messy play activities you can try at home with items you may already have around the house……….
Cereal Play
Sand Play
Mud play, leaves, twigs etc
Pasta/ rice play
Shaving foam
Mess means fun and fun means learning! We always love to see what the children are up to at home so if you do try any messy play activities please feel free to share photos on the learning book portal and our parent Facebook page.
