Messy Play in Play Work: The Chickpea Pit

Can’t go outside to the sandbox? No problem! Create your own chickpea pit, rice pit, or lentil pit… Invent your own stories or let yourself be inspired by familiar poems, books, or nursery rhymes. Enjoy chickpeas scattered across the room and rice on the hospital floor. Let’s not be afraid of a little mess! ;-)

What does a chickpea pit offer to children in hospital care?

• Develops fine motor skills (digging, pouring, sorting, filling…) and allows for free, unstructured play

• Stimulates imagination

• Brings the opportunity to create "clean mess" in an otherwise sterile environment

And the best part:

• You can easily make it at home!

1. Create a favorite environment for children by coloring chickpeas with natural food coloring. Or – like we did – mix them with lentils, buckwheat, oats, rice… Let your imagination run wild!

   
   

2. Pour your custom mix onto a tray, a small baking dish, a bowl under a flowerpot, a box lid, or even the bottom part of various wooden boxes. You can also make your own small portable travel set.

   
   

3. Finally, add a few figurines, stackable pieces, or leaves and start playing out your own stories. You can also use a book, rhyme, or song for inspiration. With a giraffe figurine, a few pebbles, and green leaves, we love to act out the song “Žirafa” by the band Hm...