Two Messy Bun variations:

Sometimes I'm looking for a good and sturdy - windy outside - 3 year old wants to play rough - hair do. I love doing a messy bun variation for this because it holds up really well to wind and play and you don't have to worry if it does come out a little. The first 3 pictures are one style and were taken after a full day of playing outside:

For this style what I did was four knots in the top half of the hair. The back half of hair was divided into two ponies and then the top two knots were added into the ponies. Next I braided the bottom two knots and added them into the ponies with a new elastic. Then I took yet another elastic and only did a half a pull through and pinned down the bun randomly to create the messy bun. This style only takes a couple minutes to do, I think choosing her ribbons took longer than actually doing the style.
This is style # 2 and I think it's a little prettier for when we are going out and I know she will be playing but I want her to look just that little bit nicer.

The first thing I did for this was divide the top and bottom sections of hair. The bottom I put into two ponies and the top I divided into 4 sections. One at a time I took the right two sections of hair that was left out and added it to the right pony twisting it before securing with an elastic. Then I did the same to the left side. I created my messy bun look the same way as above with the half pull through and pins.

Again, these pics were taken at the end of the day and it's still looking pretty good considering the wind we've been having lately.