Mealtimes are a super opportunity for a little fine motor workout. Spoons, forks and picking food up with fingers all require the smaller muscles to work together to achieve a desired outcome. Although you might wonder if allowing your child to interact with their food in this way is a good thing, the more independent your child becomes at mealtimes, the quicker they will be able to feed themselves without any mess.
As with all areas of parenting, food mess is just a phase and if you can see past the mess, it is a brilliant opportunity for developing all the streams of learning!