The Importance of Messy Play

Play can be a messy business!!
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Children often throw themselves wholeheartedly into the business of exploring the world around them, with little concern for grass stains on their clothes and paint in their hair and clothes and at Bramble Brook Pre-School we feel that is exactly how it should be!

Often parents can get very hung up on muddy or messy clothing at the end of a busy day but the children never notice. When parents voice concerns over the appropriateness of messy play we often feel very under pressure to send home very clean and tidy children at the cost of limiting playful sensory learning and discovery.

At Bramble Brook Pre-School we have a mud kitchen, an outdoor sand pit (which is generally a bit sludgy this time of year thanks to the lovely British weather), we dig in the dirt, we paint, we use felt tips, we visit the park and slide on our bottoms and we play in the water. Sometimes we can come home looking like we have done all of these things in one day! The important thing to remember is that it all washes off!

Messy play is really important and key skills are developed as children engage in these experiences. Take a look at the picture below :

​You can help us by:

• Dressing your child in old clothes that you don't mind getting dirty.
• Purchase uniform t shirts so you don't get your own clothes messy.
• Remember to bring several changes of clothes 
• Dress appropriately for the weather. ie. wellie boots & raincoats.
• We will provide aprons but will not stop a child from learning if they don't want to put one on.

Please remember that the marks on children's clothes, the pockets filled with sand, the paint in their hair are all indicators of future architects, artists and scientists in training. If we worry too much about wet or dirty clothes we can place a real dampener on the spirit of learning and self discovery. Please never think that your child is dirty because a member of staff is too lazy to put an apron on them! 

Please remember that from the day your child joins us, we are preparing them for life long learning. If your child comes home spotlessly clean it means that they are not trying to be independent, or creative, but most of all messy means they've had lots of fun trying!