Can I Handle the Mess??

I made some new materials this weekend. Some for Maximum Effort and others for Practical Life. I took them to school today. I did not do any formal presentations, and I was really excited to see what the children would do with them. They were really happy and worked great with them except one, a dry work. I had a large basket filled with lima beans and had some scoops and cups for it. Well, I guess they were using it the way it is supposed to be used. I knew they were going to spill some of the lima beans on the floor. I was expecting that, but all of beans ended up all over the classroom. Many questions popped into my mind: Should I make them keep the beans in the basket? Do I make them clean it all up? Do I make them come back to clean once they had moved to another activity? Wait, what did Sue said about this? Can I handle the mess?

I know the mess is part of the learning, but at the end, I had the children clean up and asked them to move to another activity because it was getting out of hand. I felt bad afterwards, but what would you have done in my situation? I have a small room, and my boss was giving a tour at that time. They loved the lesson, though : )

Any suggestions?