Messy play- only a passing phase

This sight is one of the regular happenings in any home when children are between 9 months and 24 months of age. Children like exploring, want to feel, move, throw, manipulate and know how each toy functions. They scatter the toys all around and the house looks unkept. The building blocks, stacking rings, pieces of puzzles are often all over the house. This can be annoying. Some of the toys would get damaged while manipulating or by rough handling.

However, every child will need to go through this as a  part of their cognitive and beahvioural developmental sequences. It is important that we 'tolerate' and support this phase rather than get annoyed with them or keep toys inaccessible to them or deprive them of the experience of learning by exploring.  

Let me suggest some good practices to let them go through this phase,  enjoying with them and sharing their sense of discovery. Have about six to ten toys placed in a place, which they can access any time they want. Join with a child when ever possible, when he or she is ready to play to demonstrate the function of each toy and how a chid can play with it in different ways. Try converting it into a time of 'hide and seek', and turn taking play while playing with stacking rings, etc. This is the way to take the child forward in his or her play development to parallel play. When the child moves away from wanting to play, try putting back the toys in the shelf. Often the child will also join in to do what the adult does. It may be good to be available to attend to the child when he or she is ready to play again. It provides the child a social setting to play interactively which is what they are looking for. In fact some children throw or bang toys to draw attention of adults.

Taking away toys from them because they have damaged a few is not a wise step. Giving them toys to play only when adults are around is also not good enough. What is advisable is to take away all the toys that a chid was playing with for a week and replace them with another set. This recycling keeps the child interested due to the newness that he or she would find when given another set of toys. Usually if a family has three or four sets of toys and introduce one new set each week, most children would stay engaged.

What children at this age would normally need is a corner in the house, which is theirs, just as adults and others have their corners. When adults use, TV, Computer, mobile phones, etc. for their needs, children need toys for their occupation. Children are most fascinated by toys which their parents can make with tooth paste cartons, empty non breakable containers, paper boards, etc. In fact when they are given an opportunity to make them, it is even better. Yu would be surprised to notice that  the toys which they have helped parents to make are their favorite ones.

This messy play is a passing phase. It is necessary. We can make it easier by recognizing its seminal value.   

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)