The benefits of Messy Play
Print Edition
As a parent, when we hear “Messy Play” there is often a reaction of either “OH, GREAT!” or “oh, great …” Messy Play is the catch-all phrase for exploring the world using our whole body and all of our senses. It is a learning time that is intended to be open-ended and full of textures and smells that students may not typically experience in their lives.
At the SCIS Hongqiao Early Childhood Education campus, we welcome and plan for many Messy Play opportunities.
For young children, the long-regarded psychologist, Jean Piaget, described four major stages of cognitive development. Two of these stages occur between ages 0 and 7 years old.
The first is the sensorimotor stage from age 0 to 2 in which children are learning about their world using their senses to interact with that world. The second is the preoperational stage from 2 to 7 in which children begin to engage in symbolic play and learn to manipulate symbols. Our understanding of a child’s development supports our ability to expand their learning and experiences in the most impactful manner.
As we expand their experiences, we continue to develop even deeper skills and understanding within each child.
1. Fostering curiosity, imagination and exploration
This skill is all about letting children explore and experiment with different objects and raw materials without an end game or restriction. Objects and materials are chosen so they can be manipulated and changed. This is the learning journey for a child in which all the senses are used to explore and better understand the surrounding world.
2. Encouraging communication and language development
Messy Play is a social activity. It naturally lends itself to sounds of excitement to descriptions of how a material feels or how two items can go together. Adding simple tools such as wooden letters, colored beads, different shaped cookie cutters lends itself to building language and vocabulary in the most fun, connected and interactive manner.
3. Nurturing future skills
Messy Play promotes high concentration skills. It takes focus and determination to plan, manipulate, move or change the tools. A student’s ability to develop this focus-on-a-task or to follow steps in a plan are critical learning skills that will serve them well into the future.
4. Supporting the ability to play independently
In our fast-paced, adult-dominated world, today’s children struggle to amuse themselves. They often look to the adults to provide their entertainment. Messy play is unrestricted and often nudges children to try something new, add a new element to their play and therefore extend themselves naturally. When allowed to practice, children will begin to plan, explore and problem-solve as various situations arise. All of these experiences bolster their self-confidence and self-esteem that will, in turn, promote more play.
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