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When did allowing children to become dirty through play become a problem? Is it, in fact, a problem? Mainstream media reports would suggest that modern childhood comprises helicopter parents and cotton-wool kids; that resilient, adventurous children are an endangered species.1 Yet the rise of Forest Schools and increasing demand for mud kitchens contradict this. A quick glance through the photographs in any copy of Nursery World indicates high-quality learning taking place outdoors in settings across the UK, much of it involving hands-on, practical, messy play.
My own conversations with practitioners, alongside observations in their settings, suggest that while there is a degree of resistance to messy play, the direction of travel is towards more opportunities for children to explore their world using their whole bodies. I invited practitioners to share their experiences to provide a messy play ‘snapshot’ and offer advice for settings looking to establish or consolidate messy play as a core offer.
A total of 187 survey respondents shared their experiences of providing messy play outdoors, representing a wide range of settings, from Reception classes and Nursery Schools to sessional pre-schools, home-schoolers and childminders:2
Water play and sand are by far the most widely offered messy play options, with more than 90 per cent of settings providing both; hinting they believe the sandpit is ‘a good place for early number work’. 3
Pond dipping and tree climbing are the least commonly available, although around a quarter of all settings did provide regular access to one or both of these.
Parents’ biggest concerns focus on children’s clothing becoming dirty or damaged, or mess and dirt causing children to become ill.
Settings dealt with these concerns by communicating the learning inherent in messy (sensory/ exploratory) play and by sharing their observations with parents. The focus was overwhelmingly on educating parents and demonstrating that children are safe when engaging in outdoor play.
Hearteningly, most respondents claimed that parents were broadly supportive of outdoor messy play, with fewer than one in 10 settings feeling parents were unsupportive. Very few settings raised staff awareness or disinterest as barriers to provision, although this outcome may be influenced by the ‘self-selecting’ nature of the survey.
MESSY PLAY BENEFITS
Sensory exploration and manipulative play are a staple of every early years setting and for good reason. Messy play lends itself to gross and fine motor skill development, and there is no better way of learning about the world around us than by touching it, inhabiting it and shaping it. In the sandpit or water tray, yelps of joy attest to children’s desire to share their discoveries with others. In the mud kitchen, emergent mathematical and scientific enquiry skills are honed as children sort conkers, mix dirt and transport water. Children’s innate creativity is expressed through abundant loose parts and supported by understanding adults who value the process of creation as much as, if not more than, the end product.
High-quality outdoor messy play is:
- available regularly, ideally every day
- often child-led, with adults interacting with children rather than interfering
- open-ended, with children able to return freely during the session
- not just ‘loose parts’ play – it also encompasses connections with the natural world
- as ‘safe as necessary’ and challenges children physically and intellectually.
Survey respondents assigned dozens of disparate benefits to outdoor messy play, from problem solving and correct tool use to rich language development and autonomous exploration:
‘Sensory play is the number-one brain-builder for 0-5s. It helps build all the senses, increases communication and works balance and proprioception skills.’
‘Understanding the properties and possibilities of materials.’
‘It’s essential to offer things that are not available/encouraged at home.’
BALANCING BENEFIT/RISK
It took five years for the Health and Safety Executive’s 2012 guidance on striking a balance between risks and benefits in children’s play4 to be referenced by Ofsted, when Amanda Spielman last year appealed to schools to ‘distinguish between real and imagined risk’.5 There are risks associated with messy (sensory/exploratory) play – and there are ongoing debates about the rights and wrongs of using food ingredients in messy play.
However, the survey suggests that one of parents’ biggest fears about messy play outdoors is a perceived, rather than an actual risk: the possibility that children might become ill through contact with dirt or mess. Some parents still believe children can catch a cold by being cold outdoors; others worry that messy-play resources are choke hazards, and some have well-founded concerns about skin or eye irritation, or sand and glitter becoming lodged in the hair of BME children. None of these are likely to cause serious harm, and none should prevent messy play: straightforward risk assessment is a robust solution.
OVERCOMING BARRIERS: MAKING THE CASE TO PARENTS
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the overwhelming majority of survey respondents agreed that clear and regular communication with parents was crucial to securing their support for outdoor messy play.
They managed this by:
- inviting parents in to participate or observe messy play in action, explaining what the learning was as children carried out tasks and activities outdoors: ‘Illustrate the learning that can be achieved’
- explaining the importance of outdoor play in their brochure, on their website and on open days, so that parents were aware ‘upfront’ that messy outdoor play was part and parcel of their offer: ‘Be very clear that this is what you offer as a setting – this doesn’t suit everyone!’
- talking to parents at the end of the session, explaining what each blotch and splatter signifies and inviting them to praise their child’s learning: ‘Relate it to the EYFS outcomes and what [the children] are learning about’
- promoting and explaining messy outdoor play via social media and newsletters, so that it becomes embedded in parents’ understanding of what successful early learning looks like: ‘My parents love research and a bit of child development/psychology in the newsletter – doesn’t need to be anything major, just a link to an article is enough’
- sharing leaflets, displaying posters and videos and sending links to relevant websites. One setting suggested: ‘Have a workshop for parents at the beginning of the year to educate them about it’
- ensuring all staff are trained in and enthusiastic about outdoor play, so that messages to parents are consistent: ‘Understand the developmental and skill attainment possible with each activity; reassure parents that safety is first and that procedures are in place to ensure it.’
Many settings highlighted the importance of keeping spare clothing and items of appropriate clothing at the setting.
Parents’ most frequent complaint was dirty or damaged clothes. The settings who took part in the survey overcame this by:
- asking parents to dress children appropriately every day – and repeating this request as frequently as necessary
- keeping a basket of washing ‘pods’ by the front door, for parents to help themselves to, and offering advice on how to get marks and stains out of clothing
- keeping a selection of spare clothes in the setting, either to enable children to be appropriately dressed for outdoor play, or to change children’s clothing after messy play.
- providing waterproofs and wellington boots – as a minimum for children who don’t have their own. In some settings, full sets of outdoor clothing were always available.
Fear of illness – either because of cold weather or because of germs – was a concern for a significant proportion of parents.
Settings reported they addressed these fears by:
- providing health information busting the myths around cold weather and colds
- ensuring that the more vulnerable children accessed outdoors and messy play in measured chunks of time rather than for long periods
- providing additional clothing to keep children warm and dry
- working alongside parents to address their fears and expressing respectful understanding of their concerns (even the unfounded ones)
- appreciating that ‘health fears’ might actually be unexpressed cultural concerns, and working to address these too.
CASE STUDY: EXPLORATORY PLAY
At Quackers Playgroup near York, owner and lead practitioner Menna Godfrey shies away from using the term ‘messy play’, believing it has pejorative connotations that can place unnecessary pressure on children. While they are undoubtedly drawn towards the types of play that might be described as ‘messy’, children can be conflicted if ‘getting messy’ isn’t a cultural or familial norm for them.
Instead, staff at Quackers help parents understand the power of manipulative and sensory exploration for deep and lasting learning. ‘It’s important to show parents how the ability to concentrate when playing in powder paint is a transferable skill,’ explains Ms Godfrey, ‘and that hands-on manipulative and representational play leads directly to the ability to hold a pencil; parents want to know that their child is learning, so we are honest about the learning intentions and focus on the physical and cognitive skills children develop though play with materials.’
The phrase ‘no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing’ is familiar in early years; at Quackers, Ms Godfrey’s team encourages parents to think in terms of clothing that is ‘appropriate for learning’. Since early learning includes health and self-care, appropriate clothing at Quackers means items children can easily manage themselves, and that builds their confidence. Ms Godfrey will also offer advice on cleaning clothes and points parents in the direction of the ‘Dirt is Good’ Persil website,6 which includes information on the removal of pretty much every kind of stain. The message is that Quackers does care about the consequences of messier activities and is not glib about parents’ concerns.
Interestingly, Quackers doesn’t insist on children wearing aprons or waterproofs – they can impede movement, Ms Godfrey suggests – and instead staff will advise children so that they can make their own independent decisions about how the right clothing will keep them safe (e.g. in cold weather) or protected (e.g. from paint). While children are regularly changed into the setting’s ‘spare’ clothes if their own get wet or dirty, Ms Godfrey insists that children are not changed before play begins (as an effort to keep their own clothes clean) unless this is agreed with parents and child in advance.
REFERENCES
1. See http://bit.ly/2xR9Auy
2. The survey link was distributed via early years Facebook pages, Twitter and via email directly to settings I’ve worked with, and schools. Because of this, it’s likely the survey responses are biased towards settings where outdoor play is regular, frequent and progressive.
3. See http://bit.ly/2z7ZNnf
4. See http://bit.ly/2oSd9O6
5. See http://bit.ly/2z7ZNnf
6. See http://bit.ly/2oPZOqp and http://bit.ly/2tmwzQx
