Let Them Be Messy!
Do you let your little one revel in messy play? Does messy play leave you feeling uneasy or do you enjoy engaging in this type of play with your child?
My little one is 18 months and she LOVES messy play! She’s having a blast painting with Crayola washable paint and guess what? She’s learning, too! While this looks like a simple paint activity, let me tell you what’s actually happening!
She’s working on developing her fine motor skills as she uses the paint brush
She’s fine tuning her hand-eye coordination to complete her painting
She’s working on her language skills to request more paint when she runs out (pro tip: put a little paint in a bowl to start so that your child has to request more!)
She’s getting exposure to color words as I name the color she’s using
She learned that paint is not something that tastes good when she touched the paintbrush to her mouth
She learned that paint has a squishy, wet texture when she squeezed it in her hand
She learned to cope with the feeling of disappointment when the activity was over and she wanted to keep squishing the paint in her hands!!
Most importantly she was having fun while playing with paint. Learning doesn’t have to be skill and drill or flashcards. Learning is doing.
Happy Playing!
