A Messy Week. :)

I am sure that many of you have figured out by now that I love to be messy.  I love teaching the boys how different items feel through using their senses.  So, this week we had a few messy play ideas that we accomplished.  Some may be a repeat, but they are well worth repeating over and over.

Our first super messy play was with cornstarch and shaving cream.  We had done this before back in the winter, but Pierce requested that we use it again.  It is not as moldable as cornstarch and body lotion, but it is a really cool texture.  It stays together, and you can throw it across the room without it getting everywhere (as my mother in law found out when I threw some to her).  We had some glitter left over from one of our projects, so Pierce added that to the mix as well.  Lately, Carter has not been too inclined to be messy, but he even played with this for about 3 minutes.  It ended up everywhere, but unlike just shaving cream, when the mixture dries, it is easily swept up.  Amazing.  :)  Pierce was pretending that it was ice cream, coffee, and something else I honestly cannot remember right now.  But the point is, he had a blast with his messy play, and he stayed there for about 20 minutes.  Lately, that is a record.

Then I created yet another rice bin with scoops and cups of various sizes.  To be honest, I dislike using rice in our sensory bins.  It is miserable to clean up, and seems to multiply like dust bunnies under the couch.  However, I needed to entertain two children, and it was all I had on hand.  Both boys used this to pretend they were cooking dinner, making coffee, and just practiced scooping and pouring (have I mentioned I love Montessori?).  And yes, it is everywhere, but what they are learning far outweighs the mess.

The biggest messy play we have ever done yet, was body painting.  I took a roll of paper, and rolled out a huge piece across the yard.  I then had the boys pick the colors of the paint they wanted to use, and poured it all over the paper.  At first they were just using their fingers, but then I encouraged them to use their elbows, knees, feet, etc.  Carter quit when the paint got between his fingers, but Pierce man ended up turning it into a slip and slide.  He had a blast!  I don't know if he was more excited over using his entire body to paint, or the fact that he got to run through the sprinkler when he was done.

Now that the heat wave has broken, and my children will not be red in the face and drenched with sweat within 3 minutes, there will be plenty of more messy ideas to come.  I'm thinking water guns with paint in them, spray bottles with colored water, maybe some paint balloons?  We'll see!  Have a great day!