Say YES to the MESS!
Join us for fun-filled classes featuring hands-on messy sensory play activities to promote your child’s growth and development in big ways. (It’s also really, really fun!)
Your cute little mess maker will scoop, squish, splash, mix, mash, dump, pour and explore colorful, sense-stimulating and irresistibly fun materials in all of the messy ways we won’t let them do at home.
Sensory play is a full body and brain workout for little explorers promoting growth and development in big ways. Meaningful, brain boosting, long-term ways. It’s play based learning that packs a punch with physical, cognitive and socio-emotional benefits.
Hands-on.
Hands-on learning is powerful and it doesn’t get any more hands-on than this. (Hands on, face on, everything on…) Classes are a full body and brain experience for these little explorers!
Free to explore unlike anywhere else.
Messes are a child’s practice tries, their learning by doing and how they build confidence in their own abilities. Messy class is about the process. They are free to follow their curiosity, test out ideas and try out things they don’t yet know how to do. Even ones with messy results.
Letting them explore in their own way promotes self-guided, independent play, confidence, longer attention spans, persistence, self-confidence and sets your little one up for a love of learning!
It’s not what they’re doing, it’s what it’s doing for them. Play is so much fun, but it’s actually how the brain reacts (uniquely) to sensory play that’s important.
Scroll below to learn more.
Irresistibly fun!
Classes are engaging from start to finish! Your child arrives to activities they can dive into right away. Drive trucks through messy town, splash in colorful water play stations, dig and dump in scoop & pour bins, swim fish through edible squishy oceans, swirl fizzy potions, pop giant flubber slime bubbles and dance along to the music. Each class features 5-8 sensory activities each with it’s own messy materials, engaging themes, sensory tools, toys, animals, dinosaurs, trucks and more. Multi-aged classes include an individual, teacher guided activity we add to so it grows and changes.
Infant/Toddler classes.
Perfect for those still putting everything in their mouth with messy materials that are safe for mouthing and fully edible using baby friendly foods. For those that haven’t yet started solids, we have a variety of ways to play. Sensory play has been shown to have the biggest impact on brain development between ages 0-2 years. Finding safe ways to offer this play isn’t always easy and most sensory classes start at 18 months +. Offering this important play to infants and toddlers is the reason Sensory Play Labs began and still makes up the majority of what we do.
Pre-K/K classes.
Class is full of colorful, sensory play activities set-up to inspire their curiosity as well as use their scientific minds to explore, investigate and experiment science themed, multi-step activities with big colorful results. Activites use non-toxic messy materials, unique sensory tools and other add-ins that extend engagement and expand play. Mini lab coats make these explorers feel like a real scientist.
Multi-Aged Classes
Our classes blend infants through preschoolers in one space, with activities created for each age group.
It’s what sensory play is doing for them.
Life-long benefits.
The more connections your child makes between areas of the brain, the easier and faster they can process information. The easier and faster they can learn.
During the first few years, the brain has a superpower. It can make more connections and make them faster than at any other point in life. Since sensory experiences stimulate the greatest number of connections, between the most important areas, it’s a fun way to make the most of this time. Reminder, it’s a brain building opportunity, not the capacity for memory- it’s not flashcard time.
This superpower is something we’re born, it’s actually a skill and with all skills with enough opportunities to use it, it will get stronger. Without enough, it will weaken. If used enough in the first few years, it can become hardwired into the brain making learning easier and faster as they grow. Classes are an easy way for parents to provide chances to use and strengthen it. Each class is packed with new and unique sense-stimulating materials to explore.*
Brain boost.
Stay with me, just a little science. Sensory play is a big deal because of how it makes the brain behave. Sense-stimulating experiences activate a lot of different parts of the brain, all at the same time. That’s the important part. When they light up together, connections between them can form. The more parts of the brain that are connected, the more complex things it can do. Sensory play provides a boost to this process by providing more connection creating, sense-stimulating experiences than naturally happens day to day.
But wait, there’s more… The regions it lights up are the ones used for language, emotions, cognitive thought and physical movement. The biggies. Adding opportunities for connection making between those parts is especially powerful and can have a meaningful impact on development. *
Memory making.
An opportunity to slow down and enjoy some fun together. Grown-ups love the play too! Meet other parents and caregivers in a relaxed and welcoming space.
*Sources cited here.
Research is always evolving. This is an outline to highlight what is currently released.
Early, often and easily.
Parents can offer this meaningful play early, often and easily. No buying and creating materials, setting up or cleaning up.
Not at home.
Being messy is easier to allow when it’s not at home.
Variety.
Classes aren’t just one sensory activity. Each class features multiple activities, materials and ways to play. Each activity is thoughtfully created to be safe developmentally appropriate- and curiosity inspiring.
Play Labs Programs by Age
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Brain building, skill building classes that inspire your baby’s curiosity, encourage motor skill development, early language and offers small group socialization. Explore color, movement, texture and more in classes filled with sense-stimulating activities developed with input from early education teachers to support this period of amazing growth and development!
Sensory activities spark connections in your baby’s brain (neural pathways) they’ll rely on for more complicated tasks later on. Your little one can get in on all of the sensory play (even the edible materials) in their own ways! They will explore tactile manipulatives and sensory toys, water activities, music, bubbles, squish bags, bottles and more. If your child has started solids, great! They'll be able to dive into the edible activities as well. If not, that's great too, we provide a small bin so you can help them explore with their feet, toes and legs. Your little one also benefits from seeing you manipulate the materials!
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Big changes happen when a child learns to sit, crawl, and even starts walking! Your little one has quite literally changed their world view and can now engage in new and exciting ways! Classes feature multiple sensory activities, tools, bins, baskets, and materials made just for your child. Set-ups that are exciting for little hands, but also safe to put in their mouths! Edible activities with baby safe ingredients like yogurt finger painting, rainbow spaghetti and ponds of pureed green peas! Classes feature both group activities as well as teacher led individual activities at a station just for them.
Activities to:
Introduce simple concepts like float/sink, in/out, open/shut.
Practice physical skills like spatial awareness, gross/fine motor and balance.
Encourage cognitive growth like reasoning, prolonged attention spans and even emotional regulation.
Classes are relaxed with music and end with bubble “storms” and a sticker!
Recommended for ages 8 months-2 years.
Learn more about the benefits here.
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Join us in the Play Lab and let your child dive into the world of messy play! They won’t believe their luck as they can scoop, squish, mash, dump, pour, splash and explore in all of the messy ways they love. These little problem solvers are now able to participate in longer and more complex activities, but getting and keeping their attention isn’t always easy. That’s not a problem in the Play Lab! Classes feature multiple sense-stimulating activities both group and individual (at their own sensory table.) The excitement grows as we add in unique sensory tools, trucks and animals, bubble blizzards, music and more. The best part, you leave the mess with us!
Messy play isn’t just fun, it’s a powerful tool to encourage growth and development. Activities are exciting and colorful to encourage your child practice important skills. We practice real life skills like pouring and scooping while also building on their skills of investigation, multi-step processing, task persistence and decision making. Classes promote physical skill building like spatial awareness, balance, coordination and builds up pre-writing muscles. Activities are opportunities to practice cognitive skills like reasoning, problem solving, independent play and independent emotional regulation. Inspire their curiosity in a way that lets them love learning.
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Check out school programs and classes! Join us in the Play Lab and let your child dive into the world of messy play! They won’t believe their luck as they can scoop, squish, mash, dump, pour, splash and explore in all of the messy ways they love. These little problem solvers are now able to participate in longer and more complex activities. We provide opportunities for creative open ended messy play as well as STEM themed activities. Color mixing with squirt bottles, tactile sensory bin mixes with up to 10 unique materials, buckets of flubber slime, potion making, fizzy science experiments and more!
Messy play isn’t just fun, it’s a powerful tool to encourage growth and development. Investigation, experimenting, multi-step processing, task persistence and decision making. Activities are opportunities to practice cognitive skills like reasoning, problem solving, independent play and independent emotional regulation. Inspire their curiosity in a way that lets them love learning!
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Your baby is changing every day. At three-four months, you now have a little person staring up at you, with wake times long enough for new experiences. Classes begin at 4 months. Here’s a guide to know if your baby is ready to join us.
Is your baby starting to work on physical skills like reaching and grasping?
Have they become aware when their environment changes (going outside vs home)?
Are they becoming curious about new things (staring at things for longer periods of time)?
Your baby is ready and will benefit from classes!
Note: Isolation is not only a possibility when caring for an infant, but a given. Options from 4-6 months are flexible, refundable and cost less. Aim to join us, even if it doesn't happen. Just having a goal to do something out of the house is beneficial.
Why you will love child-led classes…
Parents and caregivers can jump in and play along or step back and let their kiddo dive in on their own. It’s important grownups let their kiddo lead the way. Try not to offer too much instruction or guidance. This is your child’s chance to learn through experience. In messy class they can make things overflow, dump a big bucket into a tiny cup, drop things that are too heavy or slippery. Classes are designed to be a space of “cause/effect” instead of “right way/wrong way.” Classes are “yes” classes to encourage the focus to be on the mess making, instead of their grownups reaction to their mess making.
Letting them explore in their own way promotes self-guided, independent play, confidence, longer attention spans, persistence, self-confidence, task persistence and sets your little one up for a love of learning!