This special blog was authored by our dear colleague and friend, Leanne Manning who lost her battle with cancer on April 9, 2021. Leanne dedicated 34 years of her life’s career to Nebraska Extension, and to the Learning Child Interest Group. Leanne was passionate about education, helping others through educational programming, and watching youth develop into their potential. She loved spending time outdoors in nature and watching blue birds. Leanne will be missed, but her work will live on in those who knew her well and had the opportunity to be instructed in her care. This is the last blog she had written and requested that it be published in June 2021. Thank you and a fond farewell to Leanne Manning.
********************************************************************************************************
Remember when you were a kid and you had fun playing in the mud? Turns out that was good for you! Some of the benefits* of playing in the mud follow.
- The bacteria, Mycobacterium Vaccae, found in the soil or mud, has been found to reduce anxiety and increase serotonin (the endorphin that is used to regulate mood and makes you feel happy) in the brain.
- Mud play increases brain activity by stimulating a child’s senses.
- When children play in the mud outdoors, physical activity increases which helps children maintain a healthy lifestyle.
- Regular exposure to mud will reduce a child’s vulnerability to depression.
- Mud play reduces allergies and asthma symptoms.
- By experiencing outdoor mud play, children learn a sense of self and belonging in the natural world around them. It provides a chance to explore nature, ground themselves, and learn to care for their world.
- Children exposed to playing in the mud have more opportunities to be creative. There is no end to the amount of games and uses for mud in child’s play. This can lead to an increased ability to problem solve, think critically, and be innovative.
Ideas to get kids involved in mud play are:
- mud hand-prints or footprints,
- use fingers, paintbrushes, or old kitchen tools like potato mashers to paint or make prints,
- hang a large white sheet and have kids throw mud balls at it to create splatter painting,
- set up a mud kitchen with pots, pans, and more to make mud pies or other culinary creations such as mud stew,
- use a plastic kiddie pool and create a mud pit supplying them with shovels, bowls, and spoons for digging and let the children squish mud through their bare toes in the mud pit,
- make mud castles or mud bricks,
- make mud buddies by forming mud into people or pets.
Ask children questions that help them think about what is happening during this experience such as: What would happen if we used sand instead of mud? What would happen if we left this mud out in the sun? What would happen if we added more water? At Prince Edward Island in Canada, they use their famous red mud to dye t-shirts. Maybe you could experiment with mud dying on inexpensive pieces of fabric with the children.
Clean up after mud play can be as much fun as playing in the mud. Take a garden hose and have children hose off. There is no better time than now to go outside and have some fun playing in the mud….it is good for you! International Mud Day is Tuesday, June 29, 2021…have fun getting dirty!
*Source: https://natureplayqld.org.au/
LEANNE MANNING, EXTENSION EDUCATOR | THE LEARNING CHILD
Peer Reviewed by Lynn DeVries, Sarah Roberts, and Erin Kampbell, Extension Educators, The Learning Child
Make sure to follow The Learning Child on social media for more research-based early childhood education resources!
The Learning Child Blog 