messy monkey philosophy

A note on our ethos and philosophy, of which we at messy monkeys are very proud! 

It is our absolute policy never to say ‘no’ at Messy Monkeys – we feel children get nagged enough to stay clean and tidy so when with us we like to say ‘yes’!  Yes you can paint your head green, yes you can stick your feet in the custard, yes you can see what happens when you chuck the flour in the air!

We love paintings by the wonderous Mackenzie Thorpe who draws children with enormous heads – so open to ideas and full of enthusiasm!  We love to allow children the freedom they need to explore without squashing their minds into doing things ‘the right way’.

Ever been to a kid’s craft session and had your child’s work corrected?  Things moved into the ‘right place’?  Oooooo that infuriates us at Messy Monkeys!  Our mantra is ‘process not product’!

Our philosophy is to give oodles of praise for children’s choices, join them in their little world of exploration and really value their crazy creations! We know that this helps to give confidence and raise self esteem… even if their choices are to paint their arms, they end up splatting goo all over the place and their creations result in mess that takes us 2 hours to clean up!