Children love messy play activities. These easy recipes for slime and mud play will result in hours of fun outdoors. Taking learning outdoors shouldn’t just be a case of half an hour of outdoor play or story time in the sunshine. The outdoor classroom is a world full of opportunities, and what better way to spend a day, than taking messy play outside. Children love messy play, and not only is it fun, but it encourages sensory development and provides the ideal opportunity for children to experiment and explore.

Why not provide your little ones with materials like corn flour, food colouring, dirt, water, baking soda and more? With Messy play, the only limit is your imagination.

Need some inspiration? Here are two of our favourite messy play ideas…

Magic Mud

You will need:

Mud/ Soil
Water
Vinegar
Baking soda
Powder paint
Food colouring
Crushed chalk

Mud play is huge in early years, and with our magic mud recipe it couldn’t be simpler. Simply mix your soil, water and baking soda together until you get a gloopy consistency. Then add your paints or chalk to create brightly coloured creations. Finally, add your cup of vinegar and sit back and watch the magic… as your mud starts to fizz and erupt with colour.

Jungle Slime

You will need:
Liquid starch
Water
PVA Glue
Washable liquid watercolours
Glitter

To create your wonderful, gloopy slime recipe, simply start by mixing about ¼ cup of water with an individual size bottle of PVA until you get a smooth consistency. Then add the watercolour until you are happy with the colour (to create a marble effect, create individual batches and swirl them together). Next, mix in some glitter to give it a sparkle.

Finally, pour about 1/2 cup of liquid starch into the mixture, stir it with a spoon until it begins to thicken and finish off by using your hands to help it to mix and come together. (If the mix feels too sticky, add a bit more liquid starch.)

Note: This not mixture is not safe for consumption.

You can find all of the ingredients you need for your messy play activities on our website by searching, or head to the messy play category to be inspired.