I am a big believer of allowing kids to be kids Let them get dirty, wet, messy, gooey....let them have fun!!!! Let them explore different textures, different ways to play, etc.

Now having said that, I'm not completely crazy! I like to "contain" the mess as much as possible so I try to think about ways to keep it clean while still allowing them to have fun and get dirty! I don't want to spend my whole afternoon cleaning slime off my walls LOL

When they were younger and I only had 2-3, I would put them in swim diapers and let them play in the tub together. We called it our indoor pool lol. Buy one of those long shallow rubbermaid containers from walmart and put that on the table or the floor and use that as your water table. Either make sure you have a spare set of clothes or let them go in their diaper/underwear. All depends on your comfort level. I use towels but a blanket is a great idea!! I will have to remember that. My daycare is also in my basement but I have a full kitchen down there so we do all of our art/sensory/water play in the kitchen, bathroom or hallway which is all linoleum(sp??)

Sensory....we do rice, macaroni, homemade gak,feather bin, homemade play doh, homemade slime. Still havent tried the cooked spaghetti but maybe for halloween we will!! I will also put a long piece of paper on the floor and paint their feet and let them walk on the paper.

We have also done pudding art. I usually just take their shirts off for this, give them some pudding on a paper plate and let them go to town. I don't worry if they eat it as that is half the fun. When they are all done I just throw the plates out.

There is lots of way to let kids explore and learn through playing messy and still not have a huge mess to clean up (except glitter...glitter is the devil and I don't allow it anymore LOL

Oh and my kids are a combination of 18 months, 2 years and 3.5.