Messy Play for sensory benefits

Why Messy Play??

Anything that can stimulate your child's senses! It’s essential to incorporate messy play into your daily routine. Why?

Messy play offers a range of benefits for children, including enhancing their sensory development, improving fine motor skills, boosting creativity and imagination, promoting language skills, fostering social interaction, and building self-confidence by allowing them to explore different textures and materials freely in a playful environment.

Key benefits of messy play:

• Sensory stimulation:

  Messy play engages multiple senses, particularly touch. It allows children to explore different textures like slime, foam, mud, or shaving cream, which can be particularly beneficial for children with sensory processing differences. 

• Fine motor skill development:

  Activities like squeezing, pinching, and manipulating materials during messy play help strengthen the small muscles in the hands and fingers, improving fine motor coordination. 

• Cognitive development:

  Messy play encourages exploration and experimentation, which helps children develop problem-solving skills, cause-and-effect understanding, and critical thinking. 

• Creativity and imagination:

  With open-ended materials, messy play allows children to freely express their creativity by creating imaginary scenarios and stories. 

• Language development:

  Describing the textures, sensations, and actions during messy play helps children practice their vocabulary and communication skills. 

• Social skills:

  Messy play can be a collaborative activity where children learn to share materials, take turns, and cooperate with others. 

• Emotional regulation:

  Engaging in messy play can be a fun and relaxing experience, helping children to manage stress and express their emotions. 

• Self-esteem:

  Messy play provides a safe space for children to experiment and explore without fear of making mistakes, which can boost their confidence and self-esteem. 

Examples of messy play activities:

• Finger painting

• Playing with shaving cream

• Mud pies

• Water play with containers and sponges

• Sensory bins with different textures like rice, beans, or pasta

• Making playdough creations 

• Cloud dough

• Slime

Check out some of our favorite recipes for slime, Play-Doh, and cloud dough on this page.