Last week Frankie and I attended Messy Monkeys in Mounttown Community Facilities, Dun Laoghaire, South Dublin. Messy Monkeys is a place for babies and toddlers to discover, investigate and explore their senses and imagination in messy play. Messy play is an important part of children’s early education. It helps promotes fine and gross motor skill development and best of all at Messy Monkey you don’t have to do any cleaning up, that’s Lucy’s job, the very first Messy Monkeys franchise owner in Ireland!

There were six messy play areas at our session. We started painting with the non-toxic and gluten free paints. May I remind you Frankie is nine months old so everything he gets in hands on is eaten, nibbled and/or chewed. The paintbrush was no different. It was his first time to paint freely and he really enjoyed mushing the colours around.

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The next play that followed was a large tub of warm water with loads of toys including a watering can that Frankie loved. If Frankie could talk he’d tell you this was his favourite part of the session. He smiled, giggled and thoroughly enjoyed. He almost dived in at one point.

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We continued on to the sand bucket, something Frankie was very unsure of, the texture was new and he didn’t quite know what to do with it so we moved on swiftly to the tinsel box. He just loved pulling at the strings and making a huge mess. There was a little craft corner to create a crafty calendar but unfortunately time had run out so we never got to make one but we brought it home and Kayla decorated it for us that evening

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I loved watching Frankie experience different messy activities, he had so much freedom to create and explore the world around him. If you follow my blog you will know I’m a huge fan of sensory play and love nothing more than allowing him to explore in messy play but I hate the mess. The best part of the session was comfortable and relaxing atmosphere and appreciating I did not have to clean any of it up. There was paint, glue, sand, water and stringy tinsel EVERYWHERE!

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Lucy supplied large buckets of soapy warm water to wash down out tots after our forty-five minute play session. I genuinely thought the paint would be a nightmare to remove but it was fine and washed off with just a little rub.

If you are looking for something fun to do with your baby or toddler I would highly recommend Messy Monkeys. Your child will benefit from the social interaction, educationally and you will meet lots of mums and dads alike, which is always nice if you feel like your talking to the four walls daily.

Lucy runs term classes varying in length between 5 and 6 weeks. She also runs one-off ‘Splatterday’ classes on a Saturdays for people who can’t make it during the week. A course will cost €58 for five weeks and the cost of a 6 week term is €70. There is also sibling discounts if you have more than one child. You can book directly on the Messy Monkey website or you can check out their Facebook page for more information.
 I was giving a session of Messy Monkeys play for reviewing purposes. All opinion are my own.

15 Comments on Messy Monkeys – Review

  1. When my son was 10 months old we lived in Hong Kong and joined a messy art class for babies. Basically every Monday afternoon we went to this artists terrace and she’d set up pots of paint and had paper on the floor and the walls and the kids just went crazy. He loved it!!! So much so, I had a “paint party” for his first birthday and he thoroughly enjoyed getting all the other kids to join in 🙂 *runs off to see if they have messy monkeys in London*

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  2. Thankfully it was hosted on the lovely artist’s terrace so no cleaning for me….woo hoo! 🙂 Lot’s of messy monkeys in the UK, none in London sadly!

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  5. That sounds brilliant – great way of getting little ones to enjoy messy sensory play without having to worry about cleaning up the mess afterwards! 🙂

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  6. This looks fab! We do lots of messy play at home but you’ve spurred me into looking for a local class to take Amelia too. She loves messy play and I’m always after new ideas!! Looks like he really enjoyed it.

    Thanks for linking up and hopefully see you again #mummymonday (co-host)

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  7. What a fabulous idea! All the mess and fun but no cleaning up 😉
    Thanks so much for linking up with #TriedTested this week x

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  8. Great review – it sounds amazing!! They run something similar near me but it’s one of the days I’m in work – shame as I’d LOVE to try it out, looks like so much fun!xx

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  9. Great review! Looks like a lot of fun! I love the kids having messy play, I know they adore it, I’m not so keen though lol.
    He looks so cute and like he’s having a great time! 🙂

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4Pingbacks & Trackbacks on Messy Monkeys – Review

  2. […] recently reviewed Messy Monkeys with Frankie, he had a brilliant time exploring having the freedom to create in messy […]

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