Some of Life’s Little Messes become the best childhood memories. Like art activities. Baking together. Birthday parties. We made a whole LOT of messes when creating the kid activities for my book Boredom Busters but you know what? It was time well spent. Life’s Little Messes are learning moments for kids (and parents alike)…
Today’s activity du jour: hand tracing and foot tracing. All you need is paper, washable markers, and a few willing participants. Big sister traced while little brother giggled and stayed still (and both were building their developmental skills while they played). They had a great time together (cooperation). Big sister traced (hand/eye coordination). My son loved seeing his hand prints and foot prints (curiosity and discovery). He had fun comparing his prints to his bigger sister’s prints (big and small). He, of course, chose the colours (decision making). And I learned never take your eyes off a toddler while he has a marker in his hand (third picture above – gah – he coloured on his feet!). A washable mess and easily cleaned.
Funny how life’s little messes just follow kids around…
I blame it on the “I do it by myself” phase my son is going through. From finding the computer keyboard icky and sticky (“Mom he’s licking his fingers and then touching the keys!”) to a yogurt covered mouth (I served it in an ice cream cone) to gooey fingers at breakfast (“Please I do it! I do it!”), life’s little messes are everywhere. However, they are part of growing up. Learning how to use technology (without licking), learning how to self-feed, and learning how to spread things…simple, messy, parts of life which are actually life skills kids learn every day through experience.
Like yesterday, when dear son was at karate class and wanted a snack. He was the one who noticed the smooshed chocolate chips on his hand. Without saying anything, I just opened my wipe case (I wanted to see if he was going to play the baby – he didn’t). He grabbed a wipe, put his granola bar down, and cleaned his hands. All. By. Himself. *proud*
I wrote my book because I LOVE doing crafts, activities, recipes, and experiments with my kids. It’s a great way to spend time together (screen free), it’s fun, and it teaches us about the world around us. Yes, there is mess but there are also great memories being created. Every time. Life’s Little Messes are important parts of childhood.
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Disclosure: This post was brought to you by the HUGGIES® brand via Glam Media Canada. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of the HUGGIES® brand.
Not a bad mess to have, I think 🙂 I love how creative you are!
Thank you Soozle. I’m not particularly talented but I do love being creative…
we make some fun messes too. but we use pampers wipes instead of huggies wipes for clean up. (just personal preference.) but I agree that not all messes are bad. and for us wipes are a must have for around the house and the diaper bag.
I have a friend who has big kids but still brings wipes with her (to the beach, picnics, in the car). There is always a good use for them…
no idea if my last comment went through. it said submitting for several minutes and then I refreshed the page. but I agree that some little messes are good. some of the activities are educational and fun, then they also learn to clean up after themselves when done with something. we always keep wipes around the house and in the diaper bag. we have 1 still in diapers but they are used to clean hands and faces as well as some other messes and I will likely still use wipes after the youngest is done with diapers.
Extra fairy points* for 2 comments 😉
And I am all for activities where kids learn to clean up after themselves (that’s a great life skill!)
*fairy points are “points” I give to my kids when they do something good. There is no actual value to them…unless you meet a fairy and have an opportunity to redeem fairy points.
my girls are grown now but I still use the wipes, they are awesome for so many clean ups
Two of my favourite things for easy clean up, washable markers and wet wipes! The kids have fun and the clean up is easy.
I remember doing these! Big big messes when you use paint lol.
I miss those days of the big messes. To me it meant being productive and having fun.
(Debbie W)
It’s an important part of their development, not being able to make messes but to learn to clean up after all the fun 🙂