Realizing I haven't posted in a while made me think about something fun to do with the kiddo. Luckily, I was visited by a few extra munchkins this weekend and was inspired. Inspired by their laughter, joy, and just plain need for messy time.
Many people are afraid of mess. Kids love mess or should I say messy play time.
As an adult, I realize that messy time just means clean up time and of course that means clean up time for me. But come on, I am happy to spend an extra 10 minutes cleaning up a fun mess to hear hours of giggling, especially among cousins, family, or friends.
The key to messy time is to limit the area where the kids can mess. During the summer, a lot of messy time happens outside in the yard on my daughter's plastic play picnic table. This way, the majority of the mess never even makes it inside. This is easy to clean, just wait for the next rain or hose it down if you can't wait.
Inside, it is a whole other story. There are a few things that you can do to make clean up easier and still allow the kids a bit of messy time.
1. Limit the messy time to a specific area. If the child, or children, leave that area then messy time is done. This can be something as simple as staying at a child size table or the kitchen table. If you are concerned for the surfaces the kids are playing on, then limit the activity to outside or the bathtub.
For example, my daughter loves playing with shaving cream. I buy the cheapest cans I can find, usually from the Dollar Tree, and she will play with it for hours. It can be colored with food coloring to make shaving cream paint or left white. I limit shaving cream play to two areas only: the bathtub or outside. The reason is that shaving cream with strip the finish off a wood table faster than anything else and my table is oak. So no playing with it any where that area just in case an accidental touch would remove the finish from my table. Outside, the kids have a bit more freedom with it. I will color it or leave it white and let them paint anything outside that they want. It washes off easily and quickly with either a hose or the next rain storm. I have even added it to my daughter's slip and slide for extra slide (under supervision of course as it does make it very slick depending on how much you add). A word of caution though, go easy with the food coloring as this can stain the children's hands if you use too much.
2. If you can't limit the area they are playing in, then limit the contain or amount they are playing in.
Did I mention my daughter loves shaving cream? If I can't let her go outside with it and I just cleaned my tub (usually I let her play in there right before I clean it...extra cleaning power you know), then I will limit the amount of shaving cream I give her and have her play in a dish tub I keep just for messy play time. I put in just enough to cover the bottom and have her stay on a blanket on the living room floor. The blanket will catch any shaving cream that escapes the bin and will easily wash in the washing machine.
3. Keep messy time for special occasions or when company is over.
Most of the time, messy time is limited to summer time to keep as much of the mess out of the house as possible, but making messy time a special occasion play will help keep the children excited about playing with something basic, well like shaving cream.
This weekend, we were able to spend some time with my cousin's daughters. My cousin fully admits that the girls don't get much messy time and she has concerns about the girls trying to eat some of things they would play with, like play dough, so she never really allows them to play with it. Since this can be a concern for many parents because who wants their kids eating something full of so many nasty things, I can completely understand her aversion to letting the girls play with messy things. Because of this, the girls always have a blast when they get to visit (we are 2 hours away from each other) so I let them get messy.
The first time I let the girls play with anything I made for them, I explained that what I was giving them was not food and that if they put it in their mouths it would taste yucky and then we would not be able to play with it any more. Luckily, I have never had to end messy time early because it went in their mouths. If this is a concern for you as a parent, there are edible homemade play dough recipes that you can make for your kids and not worry about what they are putting into their little bodies.
With the girls visiting this weekend (we haven't seen them since summer time), I decided some much needed messy time was in order to keep 3 girls ages 8 and younger occupied for a bit. Bored kids always spell trouble after all.
We started with homemade play dough. This play dough is pretty basic and is scented and colored with kool aid.
Fruity Play Dough (also known as Kool-Aid Play Dough)
2 1/4 cups flour
1 cup salt
2 Tbs. unsweetened powdered drink mix (I used 1 full package that makes 2 quarts)
4 Tbs. cooking oil (I used vegetable oil, but use whatever liquid cooking oil you have)
1 cup of water
Dump everything in a bowl and mix it until well combined. I find it easier to mix it with my hands that way I can kneed the dough together to ensure the color goes throughout the dough evenly. I store this in a plastic zip top bag with as much air removed as possible. I tend to throw this away after about a month, or if you see any changes to the dough that shouldn't be there. The kool-aid mix will also scent the dough so it will smell good. The color and scent will depend on which "flavor" packet you use, which is completely up to you.



After we finished playing with the play dough, the girls were getting a bit antsy so I decided to make them some tattoo paint. Tattoo paint can be messy, but so worth hearing the fun giggles when the kids are playing with it.
Tattoo Paint
1 Tbs. cold cream (I got mine from the Dollar Tree)
2 Tbs. corn starch
1 Tbs. water
food coloring
With the 3 girls playing, I mixed up a quadruple match of this stuff. The cold cream has a nice clean smell so that was just a double bonus. I measure everything out into a bowl, except the food coloring, and mix it together until it is well combined and smooth. Then I divide it up into different containers. This weekend I used a silicone cupcake mold I had on hand with 6 different compartments, but I have also divided it up into spots on an ice cube tray. Then I added a few drops of food color to each and stirred well to combine. Start with a few drops, then add more if the color isn't dark enough for you or isn't the color you were wanting. Add makeup sponges, or paint brushes, and let the kids have a blast.
The girls played with the tattoo paint for over an hour, each sitting at the kitchen table with their own makeup mirrors (I knew those old mirrors would come in handy from when I sold Mary Kay some 10 odd years ago now). The giggles and "characters" the girls painted themselves into was pretty fun for me to watch. The girls went straight from the table to the bathtub, where the tattoo paint easily washed off and didn't stain. Their clothes were also thrown into the washer right away and again no stains from the paint. While the girls finished up getting dressed, I put all the dirty items into the sink and wiped down the table (surprisingly the girls didn't get much on the table as they were happier to put it on themselves). If you have older children, you can let them paint each other, but I used the mirrors instead so there was no bickering over who was going to paint who and no unhappy kids when they were painted unwillingly.





Now, these two recipes I can not take credit for creating. These and many more can be found in one of the resources I keep around my house. The book is called "The Ultimate Book of Kid Concoctions" by John E. Thomas & Danita Pagel. I have had this book since my days as a toddler teacher at a day care many years ago. I have since acquired their book 2 and it is full of many more fun recipes. Some of the recipes are for craft items, like homemade bubbles or finger paints, but there are also different crafts in the book, like fantasy fossils or sidewalk chalk (these are all from book 1).

If you are concerned about your child trying to eat the craft items, there are also edible play dough recipes in the books. One thing that I did back in my day care days was to take a tub of cool whip and mix it with a package of unsweetened kool-aid. The cool whip is sweet enough to cut the tartness of the kool-aid without having to add any extra sugar and if the child puts it into their mouth, it won't hurt them either. Well, you may end up with a hyper child for a bit though as they are more likely to continue to eat it since it will taste amazing....uhh or so I heard.
Anyway, the bottom line is there is no need to fear messy time. It can be fun for you and the kids together. If you are brave enough, you can even let the kids paint your face with designs.
Happy Messy Time
Danielle