It marked the beginning of the organisation's National Playgroup Week which pays tribute to the significance of the local community to parents, carers and children.

Children aged up to five years old played in and around a ball pit, sailing pond, sand pit, paint wall, play dough table, and large plastic buckets filled with all sorts of slimy stuff.

Parents and visitors were advised to bring a spare set of clothes in case things got really messy.

Local charity Bush Kids helped out at the paint station, where kids made very hungry caterpillars from egg cartons.

Playgroup Australia has been in the early childhood space for more than 40 years.

Executive Manager Programs and Services, Peta Pitcher, said playgroups are one of the most enduring grassroots movements for families with young children.

“Playgroup itself is to provide support for families, a social outing for the parents and carers of the kids, and to provide children with an early years educational component in that nought to five space,” Ms Pitcher said. 

Playgroups have a different approach to early childhood education in that parents and children attend together.

“It works around parent-child engagement, it doesn’t follow a strict curriculum base, children drive the interests of the group, and it’s very much around play-based learning,” Ms Pitcher said.

Parents were strongly encouraged to get their hands dirty and play alongside their children.

“Parents really are our first teachers, so by the parents being involved it’s role modelling appropriate behaviours in certain aspects of life,” she said.

As fun as it looks, getting messy with paint, sand, playdough, and slime can be effective in encouraging fine and gross motor skills, according to Ms Pitcher.

Ms Pitcher was in the midst of a tour of Queensland for National Playgroup Week, visiting Mount Isa, Cairns, Ipswich, Brisbane, Redlands, and Sunshine Coast.

“Across the week we have around 1000 playgroups meeting across Queensland, and around 14 000 are involved in playgroup currently,” she said.

In Mount Isa, Playgroup Queensland’s Sally Wyld runs two playgroups at Gardner Park and Selwyn Park, and supports playgroups in Cloncurry, Camooweal, and Dajarra.

“We usually host the mega play days twice a year, and this is the first messy play day for Daphne Street,” Ms Wyld said.

With smiles all around, it seems there are many benefits to the good clean fun of making a mess.