Messy Play: Porridge!

I wanted to do some messy/sensory play with S this weekend, but I didn't fancy having to mop the floor and give her a bath, like I do with most things... So I decided to use porridge!

I'd seen tutorials online for making porridge play dough, but since S tends to eat things like that, I thought I'd try just using the porridge as a sort of substitute for sand.

I used a massive oven tray that's only ever used for the Christmas turkey, and put a thick layer of porridge oats over the bottom. I toyed with the idea of hiding some small toys in it, but I couldn't think of anything suitable - so instead I sprinkled some sequins from the pound shop over the top instead.

Doesn't that look exciting to you?
S really enjoyed herself with this one. First of all there was the pushing it about in the tray with an upturned plastic container...

Then she realised she could flick it up and out of the tray, onto the mat and the floor...

And then she discovered that she could shake it up in a cup, for maximum floor coverage.

She also spent a fair amount of time just laying on the floor in the porridge, enjoying looking at it close up.

The porridge on the floor was great for making shapes and patterns in...

Then we took her socks off so that she could feel the porridge on her feet. She thoroughly enjoyed stomping on it, and then decided it would be good if it rained porridge.

One thing nobody ever mentions about messy play is the clean-up. For this one, it was easy. I used a brush to sweep it all together, and then put it back into a container to use again another day. The last few bits were vacuumed. The easiest post messy play clean-up I've ever had!