Why messy play matters
Messy play: discover why you need this vital tool in your multi sensory toolkit!
7 November 2025: 9 am – 12 noon
A practical guide to the power of messy play for learners with complex and neurodiverse needs.
Messy play is more than just fun—it’s a powerful tool for sensory engagement, emotional regulation, relationship-building, and communication. This hands-on course explores how to make messy play accessible, purposeful, and genuinely meaningful for learners with PMLD, SLD and autism, especially those learners who may usually resist or avoid this kind of sensory experience.
By the end of this course, you’ll have a clear understanding of how and why messy play works—and the confidence to use it purposefully in your setting. Whether you’re supporting learners with sensory challenges, emotional needs, or complex learning profiles, messy play can be a powerful tool to build trust, spark curiosity, and create meaningful learning opportunities. You’ll leave with a toolkit of practical ideas, adaptable resources, and new ways to make messy play inclusive, engaging, and effective for every learner in your classroom.
Session 1: Why Messy Play Matters
In this session, Helen and Julie explain the why behind messy play and its vital role in supporting sensory and emotional development. You’ll explore how messy play can help learners process the world, communicate more effectively, and build positive relationships. We’ll also link messy play to curriculum targets to show how it fits into meaningful learning.
You’ll explore:
the key developmental and sensory benefits of messy play
how it supports progress through different stages of play
how to create a calm and enabling environment for sensory exploration
ways messy play can build trust and help learners express emotions, worries and anxieties
why messy play supports engagement, curiosity and meaningful learning
practical ideas for linking messy play to curriculum aims and personalised targets
Session 2: Ready, Steady, Cook! – A Live Messy Play Demo
This hands-on session is all about practical ideas. We’ll show you real examples of sensory ‘recipes’ and messy play setups you can use straight away in your setting—simple, affordable, and easily adapted for all learners. You’ll also look at how to make these experiences inclusive for learners with sensory barriers, and how to use messy play to support SEMH.
In this session, you’ll:
watch a live demo packed with creative messy play ideas and simple sensory ‘recipes’
get suggestions for tools, resources, and setups that work in special school classrooms
learn how to adapt messy play for learners who are tactile defensive or have sensory/physical challenges
discover how messy play can support social, emotional and mental health
explore ‘outside-the-box’ ideas for sensory learners who need something a bit different
9.00 am Admissions and virtual tea/coffee to start the session
9.10 am Welcome & introductions & a warm-up activity
9.15 am Session 1: The importance of messy play
In this session, you will understand:
the key benefits of messy play
the stages of play and how messy play supports progression between these stages
how to create an enabling and calming environment for messy play
how to use messy play to build trusting relationships enabling learners to communicate feelings/worries and anxieties
why messy play has a high impact on learning
how to link your messy play activities to curriculum aims and targets
10.35 am COFFEE BREAK
10.50 am Session 2: Ready, Steady, Cook! A ‘live’ messy play session!
In this session, you will:
see a practical demonstration of lots of ideas of different ‘recipes’ for messy play – with suggested resources/other strategies to maximise your messy play sessions
discover various ‘adaptations’ you can make to your messy play sessions to offer inclusive; innovative; and fresh/new experiences
understand how to provide messy play activities to learners who are tactile defensive or have sensory and physical barriers or both to accessing these experiences
understand how to use messy play to support SEMH for learners who have complex needs
be introduced to ‘thinking outside the box ideas for sensory learners and messy play
Please note: You will need to follow your COSH guidelines and risk assessments for messy play.
11.50 am Questions and Answers
12 pm Thank you and close of the session!
This course will be appropriate for classroom practitioners from special schools and colleges, mainstream settings with specialist SEN provision and early years settings, and working with pupils with severe/complex learning needs and autism, or both.
All the resources from this event will be in your account at online.hirstwood.com. You will access these using the email address on the booking form and your password (instructions in the joining information for creating your password.)
Here you will find:
a digital recording of the event
resources shared or signposted during the session
a transcript of the Zoom chat
your certificate of attendance
These will be available for 10 days after the event.
Join our Facebook Group Sensory Support Spaghetti to connect with us and other like minded practitioners – for everything sensory!
The cost is £149 plus VAT per delegate. You can select multiple places on the booking form.
You can choose to pay by credit card for this booking. You can also request an invoice by confirming your booking by entering a Purchase Order Number on the booking form.
‘It has been one of the best courses I have attended recently! Loved the enthusiasm’
‘It was very informative and has given me lots of further avenues to explore.’
‘The trainers are able to engage the listeners in an amusing way. Questions were answered promptly and links or resources are shared immediately.’
‘Practical ideas and a renewed understanding of sensory differences’
‘Learning about creating the learning environment and expanding use of sensory resources’
