Nursery World - Parent’s Guide: Early learning

What does messy play entail, how do children benefit from it, and what can you do to help them take part in such activities? By Annette Rawstrone

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It’s a typical but frustrating scenario for parents – you take your bathed and neatly dressed child to nursery and return with one who is grubby. Their hands, clothes and sometimes their hair too can tell a story of their day – mud under their finger nails, thick paint on their top and glitter in their hair.

Rest assured, childcare practitioners don’t deliberately make your washing machine work overtime, but they do want to enable your child to explore a wide range of textures and materials. This form of play is called ‘messy’ – or ‘sensory’ – play.

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