Messy Play
Total immersion washing dishes
“The construction of intelligence is not passive; we do not construct our intelligence with knowledge that is given to us by another person. There are two great factors. The first is activity, which follows certain laws and allows the child to construct intelligence from his experiences. The child constructs his intelligence through active experience…” - Maria Montessori
I am always fascinated by how quickly I am asked by visiting adults “where is the messy play?” As early childhood educators and parents we are bombarded by the idea that we must supply sensory experiences, for children, in the form of “Messy Play”.
In ECE settings I have visited or worked in, this often results in children being offered - slime (soap based), gloop (cornflour and water), and water troughs of bubbly, or glittery and coloured water. In one centre I visited - two large bags of cornflour were simply emptied into a “tuff tray” on the floor for babies to explore, and the next day a giant bag of shredded paper was upended onto the floor and left for the day.
Another experience I often see offered, and it’s the only one I “tap out” for, is shaving foam (my senses just cannot tolerate the overpowering scent that lingers long after the experience has ended). There are also sensory bins fill with coloured grains of rice and I’m sure you can add a long list of other experiences to mine here.
Montessori training has prepared me well in observation (and I also believe it is has always been part of my personality development to watch and wonder). So when infants and toddlers are exploring these messy play experiences, I immediately launch into observer mode and it has helped me form a strong opinion on the value of these kinds of experiences.
Now I hope you can at least admire my bravery in writing the rest of this blog post - I know full well I could be offering an unpopular viewpoint with many of you, I hope you will continue to read to the end and discover what I offer instead.
Mostly I hope I help you think critically about how you are aiding children’s development for life.
Here are my conclusions for messy play (in the way it is usually offered)…
They do little for building concentration - when offered in group settings infants and toddlers arrive to the experience all together (which is frequently a disaster for social and emotional health), they make mess, dump it out/scatter it everywhere, then leave - the experiences usually last no longer than 5 minutes before they no longer resemble what was provided. The children have moved on leaving clean up duty for the disappointed adults (who usually had designs on gentle exploration of the materials for hours, with children revisiting over the day - at worst these well meaning adults have tried to direct the exploration with a series of “no’s” “stops” and “don’ts”). I really think we need to understand the young child’s urge to deconstruct better - they are designed by nature to deconstruct what is in front of them in order to understand what it is and how it works.
They do not enhance respect for environment (immediate physical environment and the greater ecosystem). What adult creates mess in this way? I’m sure if someone arrived in our home and upended a bag shredded paper on the carpet we would all protest! The aftermath of “messy play” is often significant - gloop and slime require significant amounts of water to clean up. The smell of shaving foam lasts for days. Glitter once in the environment is nearly impossible to get rid of. Colourings, detergents and microplastics etc enter the waterways, the earth, the food chain - not to mention what is absorbed through the children’s skin. And let’s pause a moment to reflect briefly on using valuable food resources to play with then wash or throw away when hunger exists in our communities…
They are a poor substitute for what is (and what could be) naturally available in our environments.
The above experiences are always adult provided/directed (often with little thought) as a source of entertainment, something to keep them busy, which with infants and toddlers is short lived. The outcome already exists and so they do not teach children the art of creative or scientific exploration in the way “raw” materials do. Children do not experience the freedom to choose these experiences whenever they feel the urge to explore them.
And finally you cannot convince me that they aid the development of the hand or intelligent exploration of the world. I have observed the kind of hand movement infants and toddlers engage for these provided activities and the “open hand slap with full finger extension” is the most common hand movement I have recorded. There is little motive for using different grasps or refining pincer control.
So what do we need to provide instead?
Children need nature (this feels like a slogan). Mud, clay, dirt, puddles, a safe water source they can access, non toxic flowers/grass/leaves to pull apart and some buckets (or other kinds of vessels) to collect and mix things together. I challenge you to think of a learning outcome that exists with adult created “messy play” that being in nature wouldn’t freely provide!
They need some implements for digging, scooping and stirring.
They need freedom to dance in the rain or run in the dew covered lawn, to get wet, messy and delight in the world around them.
Exploring a muddy puddle
They need us to really consider what we are offering - gloop and slime are easy to mix up but have you ever sat at the beach and observed the physical properties of sand - Wet sand acts as a solid and is great for creating form, dry sand acts as liquid and is perfect for pouring or running it through your fingers - if you haven’t already stood where the water meets the shore and squished your toes down into the wet sand I really encourage you to go (today if possible) and notice this sand has the same properties as gloop (a little grittier of course) but with the addition of water, sand transitions between solid and liquid properties in much the same way as gloop does.
They need time for deep engagement with the natural world.
They need practical life experiences - hand washing, table/deck scrubbing, window washing, washing dishes after food preparation or meals.
Table scrubbing
They need real opportunities for food preparation - kneading dough, shaping cookies, or rolling bliss balls all give opportunities for little hands to get sticky. The other processes involved throughout food preparation develop fine motor control and hand strength.
Adding olive oil before baking
They need experiences for creative self expression - by the time toddlers are up and standing they are beginning to be interested in using paint, chalk, crayon, and pastels for mark making - I love offering pumice on the concrete outside. Clay for sculpting, squeezing, rolling and pinching - let them add water! (I remember one day relief teaching they had set up a clay table as messy play but when a child spontaneously brought extra water to the table the first impulse was for the educator to stop them - I gently reminded them that their intent had been to provide sensory experience). Glue for sticking shapes onto card.
Making a mark
My childhood photo albums are filled with pictures of me as a baby exploring mud, delighting in water, and covered in food and I am so grateful that my mum had the unconscious impulse to plant me in a garden and allow me to explore my world sensorially. These experiences have really shaped what it is I want to offer to children who come into my life.
At Aroha Nui Montessori and Beyond we are strongly opposed to the conventional way of offering “messy play” and I hope you can see all the other ways we ensure children have all their sensorial needs met.
Aroha Nui
Carli
