This is a sponsored post. The sponsoring company compensated me for my time, however all opinions and text are my own. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.
Messy play is, well as the name implies, messy.
It can include everything from sensory bins to simple finger painting and it is an important part of your child’s development. Especially in those first five years of life when their little minds are soaking up everything in their environment like a sponge, the stimulation and open ended learning provided by these sensory experiences is vital.
On top of that, it’s fun! Most kids can’t wait to dig right in and if in a couple of minutes they’re up to their elbows in finger paint? Even better!
For the adults though, it’s usually a lot less exciting. In fact, you can almost hear the collective cringe from parents and preschool teachers everywhere when someone mentions messy play.
The can easily anticipate the size of the mess that they’ll have to clean up afterwards and suddenly, messy play doesn’t look like nearly as much fun.
So what can you do? How can you offer your children the educational benefits of messy sensory play without spending all afternoon cleaning up after them? Is that even possible?
Yes! Yes it is!
Using these 4 tips, you’ll be able to offer a few more of those fun sensory experiences that your kids love while making that messy play a little more manageable for you!
Take it outside!
If the weather is nice and messy play is on the agenda, take it outside. Kill two birds with one stone and get some fresh air for you and the little ones while keeping the mess out of your home (or classroom).
The kids are going to love being outdoors and if you wind up getting a little paint on the grass, it’s no big deal!
Cover it up!
If spending the afternoon outside isn’t an option, find a spot inside where you can spread out a bit (a big table, the kitchen floor, etc.) and use something to cover your space. Whether it’s an old sheet or a plastic trash bag that you cut open and spread on the floor, it probably won’t contain the entire mess, but it will definitely help you in the long run.
When you’re finished with your activity, just dump it out or throw it in the washing machine for a quick cleanup!
Contain it!
One of the best ways that we’ve found to minimize some of our painting messes is to literally contain them.
Using a large, shallow plastic bin (one that we also use for a lot of our sensory bins), we place our project right inside and work on it in there.
The sides of the bin are short enough that we can reach right in but having the bin as a barrier all the way around keeps the mess from getting too crazy.
Make cleanup a breeze!
When all is said and done and your messy play is coming to an end, even following the previous tips may not have left you completely mess free. Or, maybe you just had a project that didn’t go quite like you planned. I think we’ve all had at least one of those :)
Well don’t worry because cleanup is now easier than ever!
And no, you won’t need sponges, buckets, or a bunch of different cleaners!
With Bounty’s newest cleaning product, Bounty with Dawn, all you’re going to need is water!
Now, in our house, we have always been fans of both Bounty and Dawn, but you put the two together and they are pretty much unstoppable.
Markers on the wall, paint on the table, sensory slimes stuck to the refrigerator, even glue spilled on the kitchen floor! Whatever messes your kids can conjure up, whatever sensory play experiences get out of hand, these amazing paper towels can handle even the craziest of messy play messes!
The best part is that they are super easy to use! I mean, whether you’re a parent or a teacher, who has the time to drag out the entire cleaning cabinet every time there’s a mess?!
They come on a roll just like regular paper towels and to use them you simply tear a sheet off and add some water.
It doesn’t get much easier than that and now you’ve got the strength of Bounty paper towels and the cleaning power of Dawn that’s infused right into each sheet.
Not to mention that the sheets hold up while you rinse them out so you only need one to clean up the mess!
As moms, making sure that we make the wisest decisions when it comes to the money we spend on products for our families is imperative and saving as much time as we can on the household chores means that we get to spend more of that time with the people that mean the most to us. If that time can be spent on more messy play with the kids, even better!
Let those little minds explore to their heart’s content and relax a little more knowing that with these tips and new Bounty with Dawn, your job just got a whole lot easier.
