This is a feature that I've been so excited to write about. We met Angela about 1.5 years ago when I started taking Lily to her Messy Play Program in Stoney Creek. It is one of our favourite programs still to this day and I love that we now get to share it with Mason.
Angela passionately runs Messy Play Studio where she provides sensory programming form children under the age of 5. What sets her apart from other businesses is she runs a mobile company where she can bring the sensory fun to your birthday party or special event. And want to know the best part, she takes care of the clean up so you don't have too!
Do you have kids? If so how many & age?Â
I have three kids and number 4 on the way. 17 years, 5 years, 3 years.Â
Are you a stay at home mom?
I'm on leave at the moment.
What is your favourite thing to do for yourself?
Go to historic houses. No one in my family likes this kind of stuff but I love it. Historic houses, ghost walks, history walks.Â
What is your favourite date night activity? Going out for dinner. I like food. :)
What's one thing you couldn't live without?Â
My squishy pillow. I had a soft feathery pillow growing up which belonged to my great grandmother (It survived an unbelievably long time) and when it did finally fall apart I had to get another one because I couldn't sleep otherwise.Â
Who's your IG inspiration?
Celeste Barber because she makes me laugh and we all need to laugh. :)
What advice would you give your younger self
That things do get better.
Where is business located out of? Messy Play Studio's home location is Hamilton, ON, however we do travel as far as Toronto with our Messy Play set up.We're a mobile business.
How did you choose the name for your business? I had a couple of names I was thinking of, but I thought Messy Play was pretty self explanatory. lol How do you balance having kids & running a business? I'm not going to lie, It's hard. For the last two years I've also been working full time. Involving my kids when and where I can is a challenge but they enjoy the classes and my 5 year old love to help. Remembering to take down time is also really important. We also like visiting places like Chickadee Family Cafe where the girls can play and I can get a bit of work done on the computer.
Where can people find your products? We've recently upgraded our website so you can purchase spots in our programs right from our website: www.messyplaystudio.com. We will be rolling out some product collaborations over the next couple of months which we're excited about and will also be available for purchase on our website. What advice can you give someone looking to start up their own business? Jump in! Do your research and prepare, but don't get stuck at that stage and end up not taking a chance. I tend to jump in running and sometimes things work out and sometimes they don't, but then you reevaluate and try again. Be prepared for the ups and downs and don't let the downs discourage you. Use it as motivation to work even harder and celebrate the little wins! I got to the point where I was ready to give up, but I ended up giving myself a good kick start and got back up and worked twice as hard and there are still ups and downs but I'm embracing this roller coaster and using the downs as learning experiences and again as motivation to work hard to get back up. Also, don't be afraid to reach out and talk to other entrepreneurs. Find a mentor. Engage with others in the business.Â
What sets your business apart from others alike? We are mobile. We specialize in sensory/messy play.
We work hard to keep our food based materials as true to their natural state as possible. i.e. we don't dye sensory pasta with artificial food colouring, instead we will sometimes add veggie purees to give a pop of colour. We are selective about what foods we use and try to avoid sugar where we can, so you won't find rice krispies in our bins. We also do not use food products which contain eggs, dairy or meat. While we cannot guarentee that their isn't any cross contamination for those with allergies we do make sure to choose foods without these ingredients. We are multi age so if you have a 1 year old and a 3 year old they are both welcome to play! We know how hard it can be to find programs for more than one child at the same time. We gear our activities to children under the age of 5 years.
Our philosophy is rooted in the idea that sensory play and free exploration is the foundation to learning in all other areas and that it's important to honor the process of making, exploring and creating. We love process based art and messy experiences! What is the most challenging part of running your business? Carrying everything up the stairs! lol. I love creating our set ups and we've got a really streamlined clean up process though. And we get to chat with parents and see all the little ones play and have fun which makes it 100% worth it!
Coffee or tea? This entirely depends on my mood. I will say that I go through more coffee phases than tea so I think I'm probably more of a coffee person than tea. In fact, since I'm expecting I'm not drinking coffee but I'm back drinking decaf again. lol Neutral or colourful? I love colour. I've painted my walls reds, yellows, oranges in the past which has driven my husband crazy since he's all about the simplicity of white. You can probably tell since I picked a super strong pink for my brand too. Morning or night? I was definitively a night person in my younger days. I'm not really an early morning person (my oldest and second oldest take after me in that regard, we like sleep) but I do like getting things done in the earlier part of the day so I can relax later in the day (I'm saying relax in air quotes because I never get to relax). Wine or beer? 100% wine. I love sweet wine, but I have a huge sweet tooth. Starbucks or tims? Tims for coffee, Starbucks for fancy drinks. Online shopping or in store? in store. I'm one of those people who need to see what I'm buying and pick it up and contemplate it. lol. I'm also impatient and hate waiting for things to come in the mail. Instagram or Facebook? Facebook mostly. Text or phone call?
Text. which is funny because as a teenage I'd have marathon phone calls that would last hours. Now I prefer text. I find it easier and faster for some reason.
Instagram: @messyplaystudio
@Camara.Crew Stamp of Approval
As I mentioned above we've started attending Angela's Messy Play Program when Lily was about 7 months old. I was so excited to go to the program with her and watch her get messy. Little did I know she was not a fan of getting messy at first but what is great about this program is her love for exploring, getting messy and sensory stimulation blossomed. I got to watch Lily go from hesitant to touching anything to throwing herself into the paint and spaghetti like it was no ones business. This program is great to expose children to a variety of different sensory activities. There are usually themes to each week of the program to expose children to new experiences and activities. Angela sets up around 6 different stations to provides opportunities for children of a variety of ages. For example, some of her stations are set up on the ground for smaller children and others set up higher up for children to use at standing height.
What I really love about the Messy Play program now is that we are able to share this experience with Mason. It makes me so happy that I have found a program that I can take both of my kids to and see them both have fun at. It is difficult to find things that are appropriate for an almost 3 year old and an 8 month old. But with Messy Play I don't have to worry. Angela does a great job at creating experiences for children of varying ages. Lily loves to help her brother get messy and explore the various stations as well.
Another thing I really like about Messy Play is that I don't have to worry about whether or not the toys and activities are safe for the kids. Angela works so hard to provide safe sensory play. I don't have to constantly watch Mason to make sure he isn't putting something in his mouth he shouldn't be or that either kid will be hurt by anything. It truly is a kid friendly program.
And the best part, the mess gets left behind! One thing I always struggle with doing sensory activities at home is the mess and clean up. I love creating ideas and coming up with an activity but the clean up can be awful. With Angela's program all you have to worry about is cleaning up your child to go home and that is it! We've joined up for Messy Play's summer session starting at the beginning of July. We would love for you to come out and get Messy with us! To register for one of Angela's upcoming session click here.
