Courtesy / Messology Maine
A youngster experiments with splattering paint puddles using a mallet.
August 4, 2021
Brewer startup offers mess-making play for kids
Courtesy / Messology Maine
Erika Martin-Booker, founder of Messology Maine in Brewer, is seen at center of a hubbub of kids in the paint room. The squirt guns are filled with paint.
Paint flung at the wall and floors covered with chalked pictures — that’s the kind of mess found at an unusual Brewer startup that creates an environment for children to play freely, create and interact.
Messology Maine isn't a day care center. It's a “sensory play area,” founder Erika Martin-Booker told Mainebiz.
The new business, at 391 North Main St., Suite A, in the North Brewer Shopping Plaza, had a soft opening July 13. The official ribbon-cutting is scheduled for Thursday at 11 a.m. The public is invited to join and it’s expected that Brewer city councilors will attend.
The space provides development stimulation for children and is outfitted with sensory play items such as Play-Doh, rice and Legos. Some walls, floors and even ceilings are outfitted to allow children to spray paint and draw on them. Participants wear lab coats to avoid getting too messy.
Children are accompanied by parents. They can drop in, although Martin-Booker prefers some notice at least the day before, so she know how many kids to prepare for. The business is targeted to children age 2 to 13, although younger and older children are welcome, too.
How messy is the mess?
“Messy is really, really messy,” she said. “We fling paint on the wall and then wipe our hands on our lab coats. Our painted wall is all sorts of colors and paint is everywhere. This morning, we did matchbox car painting: They dipped matchbox cars into paint trays and then raced them down over paper.”
There are painted footprints all over the place. They cut up pool noodles and paint with them, spray shaving cream all over the walls and do squirt gun painting.
“I let the kids squirt me in my lab coat,” she added with a laugh.
Musings become a business
Martin-Booker grew up in Bangor and Brewer.
She worked for a while in day care in Florida, where she also went to school for a time to study early childhood education. Although she didn’t complete that program, she said she was intrigued by how imaginative children could be.
When she moved back home and married, she started a family. One of her children has a mild sensory processing disorder and Martin-Booker learned certain techniques to help him relax. They included allowing him to have continual sensory input and output through hands-on play designed to fuel his imagination, gross motor skills, and interactive and self-regulating abilities.
But the play often left a huge mess in her home that she had to clean up.
Martin-Booker started to think how nice it would be if there were a place where children could be free to make the mess, but parents didn’t have to clean up afterward.
“I put that in the back of my brain,” she said.
Then a cousin posted pictures of a small Rhode Island business that was similar to her musings. It brought mess-making materials, such as splatter paint, to children’s events such as birthday parties.
“I thought, ‘That’s amazing! It would be so cool if we had a place like that up here!’” she recalled.
One night, her brain clicked into gear.
“I started talking with my husband,” she said. “I’m talking it out a thousand miles a minute. He’s looking at me like a deer in the headlights. It’s almost midnight, I’m typing up a business plan and pricing out items for different sensory toys.”
Her husband looked at the plan.
“He said, ‘Yes, let’s do this,’” she continued.
Sectioned spaces
They checked out a couple of storefronts, but they didn’t prove suitable. One day, she noticed a “for rent” sign on one of the spaces at the shopping plaza.
“We looked at it the next day,” she said. “It had everything we needed.”
The 2,100-square-foot suite was a former day care center that already had play areas sectioned out, a big back room that could be the paint room, bathrooms and an outside area that could be fenced in.
Courtesy / Messology Maine
A storefront at the North Brewer Shopping Plaza proved ideal. Signage is expected soon.
They signed the lease in June and began fitting up the space.
Her husband, Shane, oversaw renovations. The couple and their children, with some help from a friend and Martin-Booker’s mom, ripped out the old carpet, put in new flooring, did some painting and fixed up a couple of odds and ends.
The space is designed to allow children to move freely between play spaces.
The front room is a welcome area and toy area. Further in are various sensory areas for the Play-Doh and Legos, as well as games, an indoor sandbox and art. There are short-sided bins full of rice to play with plastic cars and animals. Two “water sensory tables” have a similar function. A section is fitted with chalk boards on the walls and floor.
Courtesy / Messology Maine
The chalk room’s walls and floor are lined with chalkboards.
“Then the back room is what we like to call our ‘mess lab’” where the paint flies, she said.
She bought most of the furnishings, such as child-size chairs, locally.
“I like to support local businesses and local parents who are selling things off Facebook Marketplace and things like that,” she said.
Thanks to her previous experience in day care, she knew exactly what she wanted when it came to specialized equipment. The water tables, for example, had to sturdily lock in place so they couldn’t be tipped over; a certain type also has a lip around the outside that catches water before it overflows.
Self-financed
Investment so far is about $9,000, which the couple financed themselves, plus sweat equity.
Although the business was sparked by the success she had using sensory play with her son, the focus isn’t solely on children with processing disorders or other challenges.
“All kids can come in and play,” she said.
She continued, “Kids need to be able to be creative and free to make a mess. If you’re not free to make a mess when you’re a kid, you’ll grow up and not be free to be yourself, in my view.”
The facility has capacity for up to 50 people. Since the soft launch, her biggest day has drawn 18 children and one to two parents with each child. The schedule is divided into morning and afternoon sessions. Each starts with exploration and play, then moves on to mess-making. Martin-Booker leaves enough time between sessions to clean up and reset. Her older children help with set-up and cleaning.
The self-funded start-up is a solo operation for now. Marketing so far is through Facebook, a little bit of Instagram and a recent press release. Word of mouth has also been huge, she said. Martin-Booker has two meetings set up with local radio and television outlets. The couple is working on getting signage in place.
Messology Maine will partner with First Step Pregnancy Resources for the Aug. 5 event.
“We’re excited to welcome Messology Maine to Brewer,” said Brewer’s mayor, Michele Daniels. “This will be a great place for families to have fun and get messy together.”
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