Messy Play

     Messy Play is great for kids!  Today we played outside and the playground is filled with water!  Water is a magnet for kids!  They love it!  While they are having fun, they are learning and developing.  Gross Motor skills are developed while lifting, pulling and pushing the wet sand.  Social skills are developed as children plan, cooperate, and negotiate with friends.  Language abounds!

     Messy play is not as much fun for parents.  Kids come home wet and dirty.  Cleaning children's clothes is not much fun for parents.  I ask that parents send kids to school in "Play Clothes".  Just as painters, mechanics and farmers wear clothes suitable for their jobs, children need to wear clothes suitable for their job.  As a teacher, I struggle with this conflict of interest between kids and parents.  The playground is becoming a lake!  Tomorrow promises to be very warm and the lake will be growing.  There will be no dry ground to play on.   Although the children would love to play in the water, some parents might not love it as much.  Therefore, reluctantly, I think we will be playing inside for awhile....until there is some dry ground, again!