Mells Muddy Munchkins

11/10/2026

This week we made marks in playdough

10/10/2026

This week the munchkins added water to the cornflour to make gloop.

They loved watching it drip, stretch and ooze between their fingers, scooping it up and watching it fall, filling and emptying buckets and exploring what happened when they moved it around.

Adding the basket above the bucket encouraged them to cross their midline (moving one hand across the middle of their body to the opposite side). Reaching across the tray to scoop, stretch and transfer the gloop helps develop bilateral coordination and the ability to use both sides of the body together, skills that support everyday activities like dressing, drawing and later writing.

But most importantly, there’s no right or wrong way to play. Just time to explore, experiment, get messy and follow their own curiosity. 💚

09/10/2026

It’s true that children don’t need toys!! The munchkins had a whale of a time playing with our new picnic plates! They played music on them, used them as stepping stones, stacked them and hid behind them!

08/10/2026

We went for a lovely walk to the quarry today. We walked up to the viewing platform, stopped for a picnic and watched the dumper trucks and excavators rumble by while the children excitedly played with their own little diggers. Along the way, we spotted a red-tailed hawk, cows, sheep and lots of other wildlife 🥰

We made a lovely stop for some rope-swing fun too—the big kids, Devon and I all had a brilliant time, while the babies gazed up at the trees and happily played with their diggers. And, of course, no outdoor adventure would be complete without splashing through every puddle we could find 😂

A muddy, joyful little adventure filled with fresh air, wildlife and happy children ❤️

07/10/2026

07/10/2026

No words needed 🤪

06/10/2026

Our new posting reel has arrived! 🥰

Posting things through, watching them disappear and then finding them again… and of course doing it over and over and over! 😂

It’s also a lovely way for our younger munchkins to explore object permanence — learning that something is still there even when they can’t see it. They post it in, it disappears… and then they discover where it’s gone!

I love these simple, open-ended resources. No instructions, no right or wrong way to use it… just something to explore, repeat and enjoy. ❤️🌿

03/10/2026

This was cornflour

The plan was to leave it as flour for a day or two before adding water and turning it into gloop, but the Munchkins were having so much fun exploring it in its powder form that I decided to leave it as it was!

Sometimes the best play is the play that happens when we follow their lead rather than sticking to our original plan.

02/10/2026

We played with water and even had a water fight…in October!!! 😮💦☀️

M and J spent ages redirecting the water in our water fountain, experimenting with different ways to make it flow and seeing where it would go. Lots of experimenting, problem solving and a bit of accidental (and some definitely not-so-accidental!) splashing along the way! 💦

The spray bottles we used for the water fight are brilliant for strengthening their hand muscles, too.