Our "Ice Cream" Shop sensory play was such a hit that we tried another sensory play on the patio: mud pies.
Playing in the mud started off slowly. They were very unsure about it and didn't like getting their hands messy and sticky. After about an hour of light play, they really dug into the mud. I had to keep towels, baby wipes, and a bowl of rinsing water for easy cleaning.
The kids had fun making pies, stirring, and mixing the mud. While the kids had fun with this activity and enjoyed playing with the mud on and off throughout the day, it was not as big of a hit as the "ice cream" shop. The clean up wasn't too bad or overly messy with everything being quite easy to just hose off. Only the tables and little kitchen required a bit of soap to clean up the muddy spots. The worst part of this activity was the muddy towels and clothes that needed laundered! The kids weren't nearly as messy as I thought they may be with this activity, but we still went through several towels during "kid clean up" (hands, feet, faces, and even Harrison's belly required rinsing), lots of towels during the drying process of the items used (bowels, spoons, tables, little kitchen, etc.), and a couple of towels and numerous dish towels to wipe hands during play.
Stay tuned for our next sensory play activity: our backyard will be transformed into a farmers market for a day!