Messy play is a wonderful way for children to explore their senses and there are lots of materials you can use. With younger children you must always be aware of course that whatever they are playing with is guaranteed to end up in their mouths – so shaving foam or playdough is no good for the littlies. Children explore so much with their mouths that there’s no point trying to stop them, but instead you can provide a material that it’s safe for them to use. So what better than some jelly!
You can easily get hold of jelly which is made with natural food colouring. With babies you can start with just one colour. I usually pop on a cover-all bib and sit them in their highchair at the table. I put a mound of jelly on the highchair’s tray and then let them go for it. Watch them poke, squish and taste. Chat to them while they play and give them new words to try like wobble and squash. You could sing ‘Jelly on a Plate’ while you play.
With toddlers and pre-schoolers you can use 2 or 3 different colours of jelly and see what happens when you mix them together. This is a fun first lesson in colour combining, as you watch red and yellow jelly turn into orange. Let the children help you prepare the jelly so they can observe how it changes from solid to liquid and back to solid again.
Sometimes children can be reluctant to try new sensory experiences and may not want to touch the jelly. To overcome this and encourage them to experiment you could have a jelly lucky dip by hiding a few tempting treasures at the botton of a bowl of jelly for them to fish out.
You can also add props such as pans, plates and spoons to role play a kitchen or cafe. Spooning the jelly out onto plates is good hand-eye co-ordination practice.
This post is happily shared with weareTHATfamily in the Works For Me Wednesday carnival.
I love this idea, thanks for sharing and I dont mind you going off topic at all.
That’s a great idea!! Thank You!! Cant wait to sit Oli in his highchair and stick a load of Jelly in front of him! 😀
What a brilliant idea! I am going to have to try this this summer with the baby!
Hate to sound like an echo but I love this idea too! Will definitely give it a go with my son.
Hello Cathy. Great site – have just come over from BMB. I love this jelly idea and will come back and have a look for more ideas soon. Saffia
Thanks Saffia – hope you have fun with the jelly.
I’ve got a jelly craft too and have linked back to this:
https://www.playingbythebook.net/2010/02/08/buckets-of-imagination/. Yesterday my youngest really enjoyed playing with a tray of shaving cream and it made me think how much she would enjoy playing with jelly like you describe.
Wow, I never would have thought of this!! I’ll be trying this on our deck in the summer. 🙂
What a fantastic idea! I never thought about using jello. I am going to run out and pick some up!
Another great idea for older babies who love sensory play but still put everything in their mouths, is to put shaving foam onto a tray and to put some cling film over it. this way the baby/child can feel the foam but cannot put it in their mouths! its also a great one for children with sensitive skin/allergies and helps with mark making which is important for the development of language, literacy and communication
Thanks Nicole – what a great idea!
I did this with the cildren at my work, they loved it! We put the trays on the floor so that they could feel beneath their feet. The children were making such a mess and were eating the jelly as well. This is a great idea and I love the idea with the shaving foam. Any activities like this are great fun to and also help with their sensory learning.
My girls would absolutely *love* to walk in jelly Rachel – great idea!