If preschoolers won’t eat their oatmeal, maybe they will at least learn from it as they engage in sensory activities at Messy Night Tuesday, Aug. 5, at Indian Foothills Park in Marshall.

“Oh My, Oatmeal Pie” is the title of one of the stations that will be open for children up to kindergarten age at the Parents As Teachers’ annual event. Made of a child-size swimming pool filled with oatmeal, PAT Coordinator Mary Keller said the station helps children learn about texture and feel.

The brain’s ability to process and organize sensations of sight, sound and gravity begins to emerge in the womb and continues into adolescence, but Keller said it is important for children to have all kinds of sensory learning experiences.

“Sensory learning is the basic learning all children begin with,” Keller said. “It’s learning from your eyes, your nose, hearing and touching. Sometimes with sensory learning, parents aren’t into it too much because it does involve a mess.”

At Messy Night, children are not only allowed to make a mess, but are encouraged to visit several learning stations and make different kinds of messes. The evening will be divided, with “Toddler Time” lasting from 6 to 6:30 p.m. and including the oatmeal pie, a clean mud pie pit, “Uh-Oh-Spaghetti-O’s” and a shredded surprise. Children through kindergarten age are welcome to play and learn from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the super soapy car wash, messy mud pie pit, a station called “Glorious Goofy Goop” and the oatmeal station.

In addition to being a fun time for children, Messy Night has become a traditional time for parents of young children to meet while they watch their children play.

Andrew and Angie Wells of Marshall brought their son, Jack, to Messy Night last year and said he had a fantastic time.

“He didn’t like the mud at all, but they had this pool of dishwashing detergent and shredded paper and he loved that,” Angie said of Jack, now 23 months old. “He thought playing in the hose with the holes was hilarious.”

The hose was set alongside the messy stations for children to play in while they washed off, and while it did the trick with its small sprays of clean water, the hose seemed to serve as a learning site of its own.

Wells said she and her husband took Jack to Messy Night last year, but it was also fun for the whole family to watch as he experienced the sites.

“It was great,” she said. “Every now and then we’ll get messy at home, but never anything like Messy Night. My parents went and my sister and her husband, but this year my sister has a baby she’s going to bring.”

PAT provides helpers at each of the sites, whether National Honor Society students from Marshall High School, PAT staff or other teachers from Marshall public schools, but parents are asked to dress their children in play clothes or a swimming suit. They should also bring a towel and, if they think it will be needed, a second set of clothing for their children.

Each session of Messy Night is designed with age-appropriate, child-safe materials. All the activities will take place near the Guthrie Children’s Playground and tennis courts at the Yerby Street entrance to the park.