A study of 1,000 mums and dads found that 17 per cent actively dodge activities such as painting and digging in the garden because they want an easy life.
Of those, 43 per cent don’t want their furniture to get ruined and 41 per cent argued they don’t have time to tidy up.
A fifth admitted to feeling ‘anxious’ just at the sight of their youngster getting dirty.
However, the poll commissioned by Play-Doh to mark it’s 65th anniversary, found 54 per cent are perfectly happy for their children to get messy.
Two thirds of those believe it encourages creativity, half think it helps with development and 53 per cent embrace it purely for fun.
Play-Doh is launching the craft brand’s first Colour of the Year announcement to name 'Nemesis Grey' - a colour created by randomly mixing colours together in the way that many children do when they are playing.
A spokesperson said: “In a year when families have done more home crafting than ever before, we know that there is still a hesitance from grown-ups to embrace the messiness of mixing up Play-Doh colours – it’s their nemesis.
"But as we move into a new year, we’re encouraging parents to embrace Nemesis Grey, not as an enemy, but as a colour that is bursting with their children’s creativity.”
The study also found dads (56 per cent) are more likely to encourage their child to make a mess when they play compared to mums (53 per cent).
Popular ‘messy’ activities which kids play at least once a week include colouring in (50 per cent), and helping with planting and watering in the garden (30 per cent).
Typically, 29 per cent of a child’s play results in some form of a mess.
But mums were found to dislike untidiness the most, with 68 per cent admitting they don’t like mess compared to just 59 per cent of dads.
Since lockdown began, more than half of parents have spent more time than usual enjoying playtime with their child, and 59 per cent said it was important for them to join in with messy play.
As a result, mums and dads spend four hours a week being hands-on with their youngster and a further three hours tidying up after them.
Although 41 per cent of dads were found to be more ‘hands on’ and always get involved with play time compared to 27 per cent of mums.
It also emerged that when playing, 26 per cent like to let their child take the lead but 17 per cent admitted they prefer to be in control.
And despite the mess, two fifths of parents wish they could let go and allow their child to do more of what they want.
More than four in 10 (44 per cent) even admitted they feel sad at the thought of their youngster growing up and no longer embracing messy play.
Parents and kids can celebrate messy play and Play-Doh's Colour of the Year with Rylan Clark-Neal in a 'Festive mix-along' on Sunday 13th December here - https://www.facebook.com/
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