Messy Play

[SilverSabre25]

I'm thinking we might up the ante on messy play today... a crawling one year old who has gone home covered in dirt the past two days (from playing in the yard) is wearing spotless long khaki pants (the high is in the 80s...:confused and his 3.5 year old sister is wearing white shorts...and has also gone home covered in dirt. She's also wearing a sleeveless shirt. The juxtaposition of the fall/winter outfit beside the summer outfit has me scratching my head....But yeah I think we'll break out the paint--for everyone. Even the babies. Yeah.

[Country Kids]

Most of my kids when home soaking wet yesterday and the parents absolutely loved it!

One said "the wetter, dirtier the better". Another one "I love the type of care they get here-they get to be kids".

[Unregistered]

I love messy play for the record.

My kids are little, but I still do things with them. We painted the other day and I was right there along side of them. One started painting the hand and then the arms and before I knew it they all were covered in paint. I was right there!!! I was reloading the brushes and it was like dominoes. No! we don't paint ourselves didn't work. They thought it was funny. I felt taken over by two year olds! I expected mess but I didn't expect chaos. It makes me not want to do this again because the mess is overbearing for me. As I cleaned one up, they torn apart the daycare, just pulling stuff out for no reason. I just find being only one person to be hard sometimes. I lack motivation. I am not always like this but it creeps up on me every once in a while. I guess the never ending cleaning that goes along with this job takes a toll on me every now and then.

Love the idea for blocks and keeping them on the blanket and pouring them back into container.

Again, love messy play for all the benefits, just having a hard time for a minute anyway.

[melskids]

I love messy play for the record.

My kids are little, but I still do things with them. We painted the other day and I was right there along side of them. One started painting the hand and then the arms and before I knew it they all were covered in paint. I was right there!!! I was reloading the brushes and it was like dominoes. No! we don't paint ourselves didn't work. They thought it was funny. I felt taken over by two year olds! I expected mess but I didn't expect chaos. It makes me not want to do this again because the mess is overbearing for me. As I cleaned one up, they torn apart the daycare, just pulling stuff out for no reason. I just find being only one person to be hard sometimes. I lack motivation. I am not always like this but it creeps up on me every once in a while. I guess the never ending cleaning that goes along with this job takes a toll on me every now and then.

Love the idea for blocks and keeping them on the blanket and pouring them back into container.

Again, love messy play for all the benefits, just having a hard time for a minute anyway.

I have a stash of special toys that only come out when I need their attention. (when the licensor shows up, if someone needs first aid, etc) so what I do when we are busy being messy is offer the "special" activity as well. That way, as I clean them up, they are off to play with the awesome cool new toy, and not ripping apart the rest of the house while I'm cleaning up the others.

[SilverSabre25]

I have a stash of special toys that only come out when I need their attention. (when the licensor shows up, if someone needs first aid, etc) so what I do when we are busy being messy is offer the "special" activity as well. That way, as I clean them up, they are off to play with the awesome cool new toy, and not ripping apart the rest of the house while I'm cleaning up the others.

That's actually exactly what I did today. We DID do messy stuff--I unrolled a big roll of paper on the patio, dumped fingerpaint onto it, stripped the babies and had the big kids take off their shoes and they all had a blast--even though I kind of had to suggest and nudge "go ahead, look at the baby, he's using his feet! Haha! Wouldn't that feel FUNNY?" ::

Two bigs had a blast, the third got hysterical about being messy...but claimed she was laughing (it sounded exactly like crying :confused: and looked like her crying looks :confused but got the messiest of all (heh heh the one with white shorts). One baby crawled right into the middle, the other (my DS go figure) took a bit more time to get into the fray.

I'd post pics but I can't get them from phone to internet right now.

I hosed off the dcks, but when we came in I had to bathe the babes and my DD (can't send her to school with paint in her hair) so I got them cleaned up and changed and then gave them each a puzzle to do while I did the rest.

[SquirrellyMama]

How do you clean them up when they get shaving cream all over? I do paint and playdoh, water toys, slime, etc... but I don't let them get it all over themselves. How do you get them clean without throwing them in the shower?

K

[spud912]

How do you clean them up when they get shaving cream all over? I do paint and playdoh, water toys, slime, etc... but I don't let them get it all over themselves. How do you get them clean without throwing them in the shower?

K

I do the super messy play that will cover the whole body (like shaving cream) outside. I first dress them up in their swimming suits before we go out, and then it's a free for all. When we are all done, I clean up the area first while they are still running around playing. Then one by one, I hose them off, undress, hose again, dry with a towel, and then place them inside the house to get dressed. If it's a young child who can't dress himself/herself, I redress the child right at the door jam. By the time the last child is corralled inside, all I have to do is turn off the hose and bring in the pile of wet clothes.

I don't know how those of you do it inside though. I'm sure I could figure it out, but the stress of separating and cleaning might make me go crazy.

[Country Kids]

Shaving cream wipes off clothes very easy and we just rinse our arms off under the sink.

MMMMM, now you have me thinking about doing it outside! I'll have to incorporate it with my 6 sponges!

[melskids]

How do you clean them up when they get shaving cream all over? I do paint and playdoh, water toys, slime, etc... but I don't let them get it all over themselves. How do you get them clean without throwing them in the shower?

K

Shaving cream wipes right off with a dry towel. They're hair tends to stay a little crunchy, like if they put gel or mousse in it, but they'll survive.

[SquirrellyMama]

Shaving cream wipes right off with a dry towel. They're hair tends to stay a little crunchy, like if they put gel or mousse in it, but they'll survive.

I didn't know that would wipe off so easily. Do you add food coloring to make it different colors or just use white? You don't find they end up with it in their eyes or mouth?

My own kids are really excited to try it and they are 11, 9 and 7

K

[My3cents]

I have a stash of special toys that only come out when I need their attention. (when the licensor shows up, if someone needs first aid, etc) so what I do when we are busy being messy is offer the "special" activity as well. That way, as I clean them up, they are off to play with the awesome cool new toy, and not ripping apart the rest of the house while I'm cleaning up the others.

Can you give examples of what these special toys are that you take out? I am curious. It seems like when someone comes in, no matter who it is, the kids act up and do things they know I don't let them do. Like if we are outside, climb the fence for example. My kids attention span is about 2 minutes for anything they do, so it seems.