Messy play

Have a go at some of these messy play activities for young kids and find out about some of the benefits that messy play can offer them.

Messy play activities allow young kids to work with their hands to create a controlled mess. Often involving traditionally messy ingredients such as paint, sand, slime, water, clay or mud, it is geared toward exploring feelings and imagination.

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Benefits of messy play for preschoolers

Messy play is so much fun and comes with numerous benefits for preschoolers. From playing with water in the bath to creating something with playdough, experimenting with paint and lots of other exciting activities. Messy play provides preschoolers with a great opportunity to learn through unstructured play. There are so many ways preschoolers can benefit and have fun with mess!

Messy play survival tips for parents

Do you try to avoid doing messy play activities with your kids? You’re not alone! Not all parents relish the idea of messy play. Even the thought of organising messy play activities can be quite stressful for some parents. Find out how to survive messy play sessions at your place - and stay sane in the process!

Make your own bath paints

This homemade kids bath paints recipe will turn their bath time into a colourful painting session. These kids paints are lots of fun to use and cheap and easy to make with everyday ingredients.

Edible mud sensory play activity

Your kids will love this edible mud sensory play activity. Edible mud is easy to make at home using items from your pantry and safe for your kids to put into their mouth. It’s a really fun messy play activity which comes with lots of sensory benefits too.

Exploding paint bags

Your toddler or preschooler will love making their own exploding paint bags! A fun science and outdoor messy play activity that’s easy to do at home. All you need to do is make your own chalk paints and then watch as the paint bags explode with a ‘pop’!

Fly swat painting for toddlers & preschoolers

Toddlers and preschoolers will love this fly swat painting activity! Fly swat painting is a great outdoor messy play activity you can do at home with a cheap fly swat and homemade or shop-bought paints.It’s such a fun way to paint and will take your toddler’s or preschooler’s artwork to a whole new level!

How to make colourful soap slime

You don’t get much messier than this when it comes to messy play! But it’s made with soap flakes, so at least it’s a ‘clean’ mess! It's the perfect outdoor sensory play activity. Make your own colourful soap slime at home using this super easy recipe.

Magic Mud Recipe

Dirty, mucky, grubby fun! Check out this messy play idea from our friends at Mud Mates and learn how to make your own magic mud for the kids with erupting bubbles.

How to make slime

Kids LOVE slime and this is such an easy messy play and sensory play activity to make using simple household ingredients. Your kids will have lots of fun stretching it, moulding it, rolling into balls, throwing it into the air and letting it splat on the table!

Make your own fizzing paints

Have a go at making your own fizzing paints using baking soda and vinegar. The exploding fizzy eruptions are great fun and bring your kids' paintings to life. It’s a messy play activity and science experiment all in one.

Make your own gloop

Have a go at making your own gloop at home with this easy recipe and ingredients from your pantry. Gloop is an interesting mixture with a unique texture that toddlers and preschoolers will love to explore and play with. It’s great for moulding and developing their fine motor skills too.

Make your own ice chalk paints

Painting with ice chalk paints is lots of fun! Make the most of the summer weather and have a go at this easy ice chalk paints recipe. It’s a great outdoors messy play activity, science experiment and painting material all in one!

Make your own mud pies

Who remembers making mud pies? Making mud pies is sadly not as common as it used to be, but here’s a very easy mud pie recipe you can try at home with the kids to help bring back their revival. Making mud pies is a great learning activity too and perfect for messy playtime in the garden.

Make your own puffy paints

It’s easy to make your own puffy paints at home using this simple recipe, just 4 basic ingredients and a microwave! A fun messy play activity that will provide hours of fun for toddlers and preschoolers.

Tapioca pearls sensory play activity

This tapioca pearls sensory play activity is lots of fun and cheap and easy to do at home. The tapioca pearls are soft, squishy and sticky and kids will have a blast mixing them altogether then scooping them out into bowls, ice cube trays and containers.

Make your own erupting snow

Erupting snow is a simple sensory and messy play activity you can make at home. It's easy to set up using basic household ingredients and will keep your kids entertained for ages. The snow is soft and powdery and even feels cool to the touch. It’s just like playing with real snow, but without the frostbite!