Wet, messy, muddy

How do you react to the idea of children being wet or messy or muddy? Do worry about the actual state of being messy? The hassle of sorting them out? Cleaning up? What others might think of you? Something else?

One of my earliest experiences in youth work was seeing both children’s enjoyment of being messy and the negative reaction of one parent. It was a playscheme and one of the available group activities was letting children cover their hands and bare feet with paint and print them onto a large sheet of paper, much to their enjoyment and the horror of one mother on collection, even though her child didn’t have paint on them when they went home. That dichotomy has not changed. Some children just like to get messy and just as importantly, some do not. Likewise, some parents don’t like it, others just regard it as part and parcel of being a child and others encourage.

However, a major point about play and youth work is that it’s not just the actual act of getting messy, muddy or soaked, it’s the permission to do so and alongside that the choice to do so. Ultimately, it’s the young person’s right to explore and engage in undirected play and to discover their own limits of what they like or do not like. I’ve had children decide to explore what it’s like to stand under the garden hose or play in mud during a rainstorm or on a cold day. Some, after trying it, decided it was not a good idea… others thought it was so fun they wanted to do it again at the next opportunity. Just as much as I’ve had children wanting try out such things, others have decided it was not for them from the outset. I should point out the idea to try such things is totally their own and its quite commonplace…

There are times when you have to say no…. like knowing they need to be somewhere elsewhere soon, or there’s a potential hazard/problem they may not have thought of.

Why do young people need to get messy? Messy play is important developmentally. It’s stimulation of neurodevelopment. Not just tactile and textures, but sound and sight, etc. It also encourages physical development of gross and fine motor skills, as well as social skills if it’s being done as part of a group.

It’s important to appreciate that opportunity for messy play is also needed by those who are neurodivergent, such as those who are autistic. Many however, have heightened sensitivity and some have synesthesias (crossover of senses). These heightened sensitivities can be across any of the five classic senses. For any neurodivergent individual, though, having the opportunity to try a new experience is great, but they need it to be a choice. If they reject the idea, it could easily be for other reasons to avoid sensory overload. Eg too many people, too noisy, too bright, too loud.

Many of those I work with are neurodivergent and while I often have opportunities for them to engage in messy play, it is very much at their own choice and how they want to engage with it. Such as trying something out a bit later after watching other children having tried it, or they might just get involved straight away.