When Marlene Wargis saw a lack of sensory play at her children’s learning centre, she saw children caught between a sterile safe world and their need to play with their hands. Not touchscreens, but physical, textured and open-ended play. With a lot of mess.
Her insight came from years of working with young children and her degree in Early Childhood, a qualification she picked up after the media industry chewed her up and spat her out.
Marlene hails from Johor. She came to Kuala Lumpur alone, leaving her family behind. As a student of Mass Communication, she worked in the media industry. Things were tough and got worse when she switched jobs and was not paid after working for four months at a publication firm.
To stay afloat, she applied to any job she could find. Because of her grasp of English, she was hired at a child enrichment centre that teaches reading and writing to children from the age of four to 15. That is when she discovered her calling, to work with children.
With the newfound discovery, Marlene enrolled, part-time, in an Early Childhood degree course, changed jobs, got married, and had two children of her own.
“My first daughter was one year and two months old when I had my second child. That’s when I decided I needed to spend more time with my family and left work to look after them,” Marlene recounted.
Understanding her children’s need for an early education, she took them to a learning centre. There, she was approached to start a speech and drama programme for kids, something that she did when she got her degree.
“But I have kids, I still could not commit to coming in regularly to do those activities. However, I noticed that there was a lack of tactile learning, messy play and imagination in the programmes my children were taking at the centre,” said Marlene.
She had an idea. What if she filled this need, conducted the classes, and brought her children along to participate? That way, she could still spend time with them. She offered her expertise to the learning centre and that was how Mini Magic Messy Play began as a once or twice a week class.
Marlene did her research and designed her FunBox, a box filled with activities, toys and materials that encourage tactile learning, messy play and imagination. In her Messy Play Class, she emphasises the importance of children working with their hands, to feel different textures and to participate in unstructured play.
“Take a toy car, for example. All that a child would do with it is perhaps pretend to race with it. However, when you also give them play sand, I see them doing so much more, like making stories, doing jumps and making tracks,” added Marlene.
The word of mouth about her programme spread among parents and soon, other learning centres were interested in her work and parents would ask her to make kits for birthday parties.
This is when she developed the Take Home Messy Play Trays. Themed dioramas that fit in a boot tray that is made of sensory toys that she made herself, and other toys.
When the pandemic hit, Marlene decided to stop offering Mini Magic Messy Play as a service for the health and safety of the children. Playing without physical distancing and sharing toys was not an option. However, with movement restrictions, there was still a need for tactile, messy and imaginative play at home.
So, Marlene scaled down and turned her FunBox, Take Home Messy Play Trays and Sensory Jars into products.
What makes Marlene’s Mini Magic Messy Play creations special is that they are all themed, and the sensory toys are made by Marlene herself at home.
“I make them using stuff like rice, shredded coconut, and other things coloured with food colouring and preserved with vinegar. Almost all of the sensory toys I make are non-toxic. These are toys that are meant for children between one to five years old, so one would expect them to at least put it in their mouth.
“If there are items that are unsafe to consume, such as water beads, I will note them in the instructions along with other information such as the shelf life of each sensory toy,” explained Marlene.
Every month since, Marlene has created themed sets. January celebrated the Chinese New Year, February was a Valentine set and in March, the theme will be hammers. You will have to visit the Mini Magic Messy Play Facebook and Instagram page when she releases it.
So how does she manage to do all this while spending time with her family?
“That’s what my husband keeps bantering about,” laughed Marlene.
Her children help out, sometimes with the easier tasks like filling up the Sensory Jars.
“But when it comes to making the Take Home Messy Play Trays, I ask them to leave me alone for about half an hour so I can finish them.
“My materials are stored in my husband’s office. Those are the things I use in my classes and I have not used them for about a year.
“My husband says that I keep the trays I use to make the Take Home Messy Play Trays in the car, because they are boot trays!”
