Messy Play in the garden

I'm not the best at messy play... I still haven't even got the paints out for Ethan to play with inside our house (although I maintain that if we had a larger kitchen, or a dining room - anything so that the table wasn't on carpet in our living room right next to the sofas that I would more willingly get out paints).  However, messy play is something we do a lot more of when the weather improves.  Mess is a lot less worrying when you're outside!  If it's really warm you can even do your messy activities naked (well.. your child can.  They neighbours might get an eyeful if you join in with the nudity as well!).

Something we did last week was grab a couple of packets of well past their use by flour and head outside to find some pots and pans, buckets and water.  It provided a good half an hour - 45 mins of amusement.  Ethan enjoyed grabbing handfuls of flour and sprinkling it over water, watching it float.. he loved mixing it into the water, but best of all he loved splashing in it and plopping lumps of "dough" into a bucket of water to make even bigger splashes.

These all-in-one waterproof trousers/dungarees are brilliant, keep your child dirt free and dry -  from Lidl for about  £5!

All good dirty fun!

It wasn't too bad to clean up either - you just need the hosepipe on hand!

After all that excitement, and getting a little cold from hosing things down (it is still March after all!)  Ethan had to kick back with his own mini cup of tea in a china cup.  Only the best for his Lordship!

I've heard tell that cornflour and water is another great thing to muck around with, and I believe it's even easier to clean up, so we may well try that next time!! Of course, there's the classic mud pie... and drawing with chalks on pavements.

What do you and your children like to get up to outside when it's dry?