Messing around at Messy play

by Leyla [Thisdayilove] - 14:23

Finding activities for the girls to do together is relatively easy, as there is 21 months between them and they have the same interests. They are the same height and with the same size feet so they often get mistaken for twins. Finding something that all 3 of my children can enjoy is rather tricky. An invitation from Mess Around to spend the morning with them at messy play, and it was suitable for ages 6 months [sitting unaided] to 10 years, seemed to offer the perfect solution. Something for all three of my children to do together.

We had arrived early and the girls watched eagerly from the window as the Mess Around team set up different messy stations inside. They spotted the ones with ice, and the ones with ice cream and were keen to get inside and play.

Before letting them loose I wanted a quick picture and mainly so I could see how clean they were before the fun started. Little Man however was taken by the lights and refused to look at the camera, he had missed his morning nap and I half expecting him to fall asleep during the messy fun simply from tiredness.

The girls started off very tentatively. Placing soap on sponges and staying within the tuff spots.

They then remembered the ice cream tuff spot and headed straight over to it, asking if they could eat it.

Before getting stuck in. Little Man loved his ice cream. The coldness kept causing him to drop the cone but he soon picked it back up to have a bit more. He finished every part and wanted to go in for some more.

Who could blame him when you get to eat ice cream with a spade?

By this point my youngest, who is food obsessed, had begun walking round and playing in each area in a bid to discover what she could and could not eat. My eldest had located the science station and was busy experimenting with colour changing bubble bath.

The girls had some fun with the slippy slime but my youngest was desperate to show me and her sister what she had found.

Her amazing food senses had taken her to the cake decorating table. A party isn't a party without cake, and both girls wasted no time in getting stuck in to make their party cake.

Little Man has a real love for water and playing `with balls. He was over the moon when he discovered a container full of water and balls and began splashing in the water.

In an attempt to let him dry out a bit, we moved over to some other sensory play. Including green spaghetti, which was really sticky and the girls seemed to really love.

My youngest wanted to eat the baked beans in the tuff spot next to the spaghetti but we changed her mind and instead she went to play with jelly, whilst my eldest played pie face.

I think it is safe to say that things got very very messy indeed, but both girls and Little Man were loving it!

Like his big sister Little Man had taken to eating everything. Given he had missed his morning nap I was quite surprised he was still awake, I think he was having far too much fun with all the different textures and things to explore and play with.

The hour seemed to fly and no one wanted to leave, in fact we were the last to go out the door. My youngest sulked in the car on the way home because she had loved it so much, and Little Man finally fell asleep after having so much fun.

It was wonderful to finally find something that all three of my children could do together, and that each of them got something out of the session. After two baths I am still finding random oats, cereals and green spaghetti but my girls haven't stopped talking about their time at Mess Around and both have asked to go back.