How can I chill during messy play?

[Spangles]

I must be one of the worst mums/childminders in the world during messy play!

I have a big problem with mess! I can't bear it! I get sooooo stressed!

During normal play I just teach children to clear away one thing before they start with another so it doesn't get too bad but during messy play I get so stressed out and don't enjoy it at all!

We did painting this morning and I haven't calmed down yet! Ha ha! Benjamin loves painting his hands with really thick, runny paint and I can see it dribbling and worry it's going to go on the carpet and things! I put a couple of sheets on the floor but I still panic, it makes it worse because this is army accom so it's not even mine to make a mess in! I get so stressed and it must stop them enjoying it to a degree or maybe they don't notice, I don't know!

How can I chill out? Am I the only person like this? (I'm so stressed! Bet I never did messy play when I was little!!!)

[angeldelight]

I do understand what you are saying a little

We have just had a new kitchen table and I do not want the kids wrecking it already so Im forever watching what they are doing even with a cover on it

They turn around when the have paint or glue on their hands and it goes all over the back of one of my new chairs grrrrrr

I am also a pain but try to be laid back - I love the summer because we do all that sort of stuff outside then

Not sure there is an easy answer here

I do make sure I cover everything its not like a nursery though is it because we have to live here too

Just try and continue to cover everything and try to be more laid back if you can

You really can not be too picky when kids are around doing craft work - hard I know but its the way it goes

Angel xx

[sarah32]

Im thought i was bad lorri, I have to clear up as they children go along and get more toys out, they help aswell. Im really bad with any kind of mess, cant rest until its cleared up.

My husband thinks Ive got a problem, if I spot something that shouldnt be there I cant leave it.

Its not just mess, its things not in the right place. I sit there looking for things to sort out.:(

I havent done painting with my mindess yet a bit small but I let my kids paint but watch them like a hawk and as soon as they are finished everything gets tidied up and put away, cant leave.

My kids know what im like but I try to relax with mindee kids, its hard.

sarah

[LittleMissSparkles]

I am really bad if its not been played with i tidy it away I cant stand mess for the sake of it, i do encourage the children to get one toy at a time but it doesnt always work like that ! My excuse is its for safety reasons, ie falling over toys etc ....


xxx

[sarah707]

The eyfs recognises that children need a mix of indoor and outdoor craft experiences and that everything we do is complemented by what happens at Nursery / Playgroup... I try to remember this when I am planning crafts...

Children do more painting in summer when I can put the easel up outside... we do a lot of gluing and sticking, playdough, crayons and dry messy play with rice, pasta, oats etc inside which is easier to contain... they do fence weaving with long ribbons (supervised for safety of course) or make pictures using natural materials or chalks in the garden etc...

Don't beat yourself up if children don't paint every week... mine didn't! I now have one extremely artistic dd (no idea where that gene came from) who is doing art gcse and a ds who cannot draw for toffee (like me)! :laughing:

[deeb66]

I am kind of the opposite....

I love to see the kids get messy and make a right old mess of things.

yes I can understand the worry about mess on carpets etc and table.

I do all my messy stuff in the kitchen.....I have a huge kitchen with big old style country wooden style table and chairs.

The table is coevered with one of those vinyl washale table cloths. I also put newspaper on there too as this helps to contain the mess and I can easily scoop it up and throw in the bin..........not too much scrubbing :D

The floor is easily washable so I don't have to worry there either.

The only time I get a little antsy is where they are walking to bathroom to wash their hands......I do tend to take them one at a time and hold BOTH their hands as we walk through the hallway.

I have a friend who is very much that that too...........she can't stand the mess and freaks out.

She either brings the kids to me and we make a right old mess or she takes them to a play centre near her which does painting and stuff like that so that she doesn't have to have the mess.

It is a shame you don't live closer to me Lorri........you could have brought the kids over to mine :D

[angeldelight]

Dee I am usually like that too love the kids to paint etc

Just not yet on my new table haha

My kids said thats what they loved so much when they were little - all the craft stuff we did - the painting etc and that was before I was a childminder too

I agree kids have got to play

I am sure in a few more weeks I wont care so much about my table

I am a fuss pot and like things in the right place but yes its great to see kids play

Angel xx

[angeldelight]

I have just realised I have given two different answers to this

Ha am I weird or what

Guess I must be half and half type of person then haha

xx

[deeb66]

Dee I am usually like that too love the kids to paint etc

Just not yet on my new table haha

My kids said thats what they loved so much when they were little - all the craft stuff we did - the painting etc and that was before I was a childminder too

I agree kids have got to play

I am sure in a few more weeks I wont care so much about my table

I am a fuss pot and like things in the right place but yes its great to see kids play

Angel xx


Quite rightly so though Angel

You have just paid a lot of money for your new table & chairs and you don't want them ruined.........I would be the same if I were you

[susi513]

1. If its sunny enough, do it outside.

2. Cover up EVERYTHING. carrier bags over the backs of your chairs and another across the seat of the chair or you can buy tie on seat covers from Betterware or Kleeneze, to stop fingerprints when they fidget about. I bought a load of cheap plastic table covers from a discount shop, but you can cut up bin liners or use newspaper - cover the table and the floor underneath. Aprons on the kids and roll up their sleeves even if using sleeved aprons. Consider removing tights/socks etc.

I also bought foldup tables off Ebay, they're height adjustable and fold flat so store easily. So no mindee gets anywhere near the dining table. Which was from MIL so God help me if it its not immaculate for the rest of my life !

3. Have a bowl of soapy water nearby (but not too close else it'll get knocked over).

4. Pretend you're in an Ofsted Inspectors's house and have a good time.

5. Have the kids wash the brushes etc in the soapy bowl - this will get most off their hands before they go to sink to wash properly.

6. Roll up the newspaper/disposable tablecloth and put in bin, taking care not to throw away the kids paintings too.

7. Put the kettle on.

[miffy]

My lot are always sticking and glueing and i don't mind that at all

Am not so good with paint on hands though, don't mind painting but not when they paint their hands but of course kids love to do this.

Like all the sensory play but did jelly with them once and never again cos everywhere got stuck up and I found bits of jelly in the strangest places

Summer is best when it can all just go outside

Only advice I can give you Lorri is cover everything make sure you have got all you need within easy reach and then join in with the kids you might enjoy yourself

Miffy xx

[Angela234]

I have a coffee table i put in the kitchen with elc plastic chairs i have 1 wooded arm chair for baby sit at coffee table to do painting (safer can't fall out) vinyl cloth on table, floors washable, packet cheap wipes handy and let the fun begin. I am quite relaxed with messy play. Last week they were outside and covered my walls, bench, bike shed in chalks. I have decided to buy my grandaughters elc eassel of her to have outside with chalks be
t they will still chalk on the walls.
I have a shallow sand tray about a meter square i put on the kitchen floor kids all ages love it

Angela

[Rasharoon]

And there was me thinking it was just me!!!!!!!!
When the kids get home from school and want the paints out (thankfully not often), I just have to take a deep breath.
My worst one though is Play Doh. I detest the stuff with a passion. No matter how much I supervise, it still gets everywhere. It was the 4 older ones who wanted to play with it recently - and we are talking 8 & 9 years old - so I put them in the kitchen, playing on the lino floor - thinking easy to clean up). Well, I still had the damned stuff trod into the carpet all around the downstairs of the house. Little bits of it everywhere so I'm banning it (bad woman that I am).
Forever hoovering up glitter and stars that my hoover is very sparkly inside.
Deep breaths and count to 10.
Good luck.

[Spangles]

Thanks for everyone's ideas and for your message especially Rasharoon - I now know that I am not alone in this!

I am going to try and get a children's table and chairs and put it on the kitchen lino, still with plastic covering on the floor underneath though! It will look like some kind of forensic investigation area especially with all the aprons and apron sleeves etc. but I don't care! I so want to enjoy it, relax and have fun and at the moment I can't!

It will be better when we go outside in the warmer weather like a lot of you have said.

Thank you!

[Mollymop]

Lorri, I hate mess, yesturday me and Caitlin were making valentines cards and crafts and soon as caitlin popped the lid of the glitter I felt my legs begin to tremble.:laughing:

[manjay]

Aaaahhh poor children!!! I love to see my children and the mindees making a good old mess! All my messy play is contained in the kitchen where everywhere is easy to clean and if anything drastic was to happen I am insured!!

amanda xx

[hello kitty]

I think Susu513 has the right idea. My husband has an obsessive compulsive disorder (my diagnosis not his!) and at Christmas time he groans when he sees us with the glitter pots and can hardly look when he sees the paint pots!! He even tidies the toys away which are in the playroom when I do the school run - we get back and the kids are crying out "where have all the toys gone?" But he is only trying to help!!!!

Sarah:rolleyes:

[Twinkles]

Don't forget you can always use toddler groups, they nearly always provide some sort of messy play. After all it doesn't have to be in your house.
Then you won't be so stressed and you might enjoy it.

ps. I love messy play and craft with the children, thats how I got my nickname from always being covered in glitter.

[LittleMissSparkles]

Lorri, I hate mess, yesturday me and Caitlin were making valentines cards and crafts and soon as caitlin popped the lid of the glitter I felt my legs begin to tremble.:laughing:


thats why i didnt have the glitter out Sandra arent I mean :littleangel:

[Mollymop]

:laughing:
thats why i didnt have the glitter out Sandra arent I mean :littleangel:

hmmm...Yes, you are mean. ha!:D

[Rasharoon]

Well today, because of all the mess and dirt that has gathered around the table in my frontroom, I have gone and bought a Vax Carpet Cleaner (bargain that it was down from £200 to £89). After saying in my previous reply about paints, it was either my delightful son or one of the mindees that dropped a painting on the carpet that of course landed the wrong way that I now have a nice orange splog. Thankfully, I bit my tongue otherwise the air would have been blue!!!!!!