More Messy, Sensory Fun Outdoors.... - The Empowered Educator

I've been focusing on a few more sensory activities this week to help Ruby grow more confident with different textures, tastes and colours. Tara always loves to get her hands dirty so they were popular with her too!

We tried some Salty Sticky Water Painting fun on contact paper first…..so much for the senses with this activity!

I lined our big painting tray with sticky contact paper (sticky side up, using blu tack in corners to hold in place)……sprinkled over some salt….the added some water colours (just water and edicol dyes).

Added a few different sized and textured brushes……..

and let the girls play with the medium any way they wanted to!!! Tara really enjoyed testing out all the brushes….

Ruby loved scratching her hands around in the salt and making swirly patterns…..

Didn't enjoy her first taste of salt…..but didn't go there again!!!

The patterns of the salt granules made for a really interesting sensory activity…..

And as a bonus….because the spool table was on a slope we ended up with a puddle of paint to explore at the end of the tray……

Great for splashing and making a mess!

Thank goodness this dye washes out so easily as Ruby discovered how much fun the splashing was!

Patterns made with air bubbles under the contact…this added to even more sensory fun discovery and wonder……

Ruby stayed with using her fingers for most of the activity and seemed to really enjoy the feel of the air bubbles, gritty salt and then smooth water paint puddles to splash.

I decided the next day to use up the leftover water paint with our leftover coloured sand to extend the sensory play fun for the week…..

Such a simple activity but colouring the sand and adding water really intrigued the toddler twosome and took sand play to a new level of fun!

I let the toddler twosome pick the ‘tools' they wanted to explore with……Ruby enjoyed trying to sieve the wet sand after scooping…..

Tara brought farm animals over to stand in the sand and also make prints with….

Then decided the cars and the patterns and tracks the tyres made was fantastic fun…..

Ruby had to have a little taste as usual but that is what these activities are all about to me!

I want the girls to experience mess, get their hands dirty, feel different textures and mediums, see the possibilities of the different activities even when using similar tools, objects and colour! I want them to taste and learn, make discoveries and problem solve for themselves and above all HAVE FUN!

If you have been dropping by regularly you may have noticed that i love messy play for the toddler twosome….but i like it to be an easy to set up and clean up activity. For young toddlers i don't think you need to spend a lot of time devising elaborate activities….trust me, they won't appreciate all your hard work! Keep it simple for everyone and sit back and let them explore and ‘work' away.

The best activity for this age is one they can fully engage in and explore the way they want to….i try not to have too many expectations of how an activity will work out!

Do you let your kids indulge in messy, sensory play or did you when they were younger? I'd love to hear your thoughts on messy play and letting kids get dirty….or not dirty!!

Have a fun day….thanks for stopping by!

Comments

Growing a Jeweled Rose says

29/03/2012 at 3:58 am

We are all about messy play! I have found you through the Kid Blogger Network. Check out what messy fun we have been up to at Growingajeweledrose.com . I look forward to getting to know your blog 🙂

Valerie @ Glittering Muffins says

29/03/2012 at 10:59 am

Nice post! Nico 2.5 is starting to like it and I plan on doing lots this summer! Welcome to KBN 🙂

Tammi says

29/03/2012 at 12:10 pm

You are such an inspiration Jode, I love all your posts like this 🙂
We are very much about messy play too whether that be in the garden or in the kitchen but I think Kaizer would love more of this kind of thing.
Xx

Jenni Fischer says

30/03/2012 at 3:26 pm

I love this idea! So clever. Also, where did you get the big spool for your backyard. We’re working on our yard now and I love that idea!!

- Jode says
  
  30/03/2012 at 9:58 pm
  
  Thanks for stopping by Jenni…hopefully you see this as i couldn’t reply to you via email. We have 4 spools in different sizes that we are going to dig into the play area (when we finally get to the landscaping!)at the moment i use them for tables everywhere. my partner works in an industrial estate and they were out the back of an electrical place ready for the tip. I would have a look around your industrial estate or they often sell them at recycle places or the tip. They are used for large cables etc so anywhere they use them you could approach as they often have to pay to dispose of them anyway.Good luck!
  
Catherine says

01/04/2012 at 10:55 pm

I have to confess I found it difficult let the girls get ultra messy, I did try though. The older one is a bit like me and really doesn’t like to get to messy anyway and the younger one well she is the complete opposite and keeping her clean is almost impossible so she’s always been into messy play and so I was a bit better with her. Looks like your girls are having the best time getting messy and you’re right simple is the best for toddlers. xx

Gillian says

30/10/2016 at 7:58 pm

I love this idea Jode. I work in an Early Childhood Centre with toddlers in NZ and am always looking for new ideas for open-ended play. I will be trying it this week. I’m in my 60s now and remember all the messy play my 5 children engaged in – sand tracked through the house as my daughter and her cousin transported water from the bathroom to the sandpit. Aah happy days!!

- The Empowered Educator says
  
  07/11/2016 at 12:09 pm
  
  Thanks Gillian. I’d love to know how it went for you and love that you are always looking for new ideas! Sounds like some wonderful childhood memories there – that’s the sort of thing I remember from my childhood too and hope my own girls will too as they grow older! Thanks for visiting 🙂

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