Messy play

We haven't done regular messy play but he obviously does a little bit at nursery (with shaving foam etc). Occasionally when he gets fed up with his food, he'll start playing with it, smearing it across the high chair or scrunching it up in his hands before throwing on the floor. In my opinion this is regular toddler behaviour but everytime my son does this, my husband goes mad saying 'it's that bloody messy play. I don't think it's a good idea'. Just wanted your opinions and see whether anyone else feels the same or whether this is just normal behaviour? Is messy play bad for encouraging them to play with food??

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I think it is normal behaviour yes however I wouldn't class the playing with food as messy play. We let him do messy stuff - foam, mud, water, paint, goo etc. as it is important to learn about textures. When he gets bored at the table and throws food then we take it away as it's not something we want to encourage (we also have a dog and it encourages him to sit there and beg).

Yeah I think they throw food regardless of whether they do messy play or not. They're different environments and messy play isn't necessarily with food or in a food context anyway. It is frustrating though. Cleaning up is very tedious! My little girl likes helping to clean though. I wonder sometimes if she makes mess deliberately so then we can clean. She's even learned to say "clean" lol

It pretty normal for them to do it. My boy as a thing to chew things then spit it out every where too. I do try take thing off him.when I see him starting to play as he'll get ot everywhere x

Completely normal! They're exploring/learning and it's sensory too.

My little one does this and we’ve barely ever done messy play

We don’t do messy play much but my LO just loves playing with food 🙈 exploring is the word I think/hope

It’s normal behaviour. They’re learning what things do and exploring textures. There are messy play groups you can go to. We pay about £6 to go to one as I won’t do it as home because I cannot be arsed to clean up after.

Normal! Eating is messy play too!

Thanks guys. My hubby is just convinced that messy play is teaching him bad habits but I can try and argue my case that it's just normal behaviour! X

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