To celebrate International Mud Day (Monday 29th June) we spent the morning in our garden getting dirty and a little muddy! Digging lots of holes and filling them with water. The only tools we used were a trowel and a watering can. And a few seeds and seedlings. 

Today was a bit of a wake-up call. We really haven't done any mud play since leaving our UK Forest School. We know that mud play is just so good for children. So I have a few ideas of a mud play area I can create with some water, buckets, and a place just for digging. It is winter, while it's mild here in Syndey it has been raining which might just be the right time to get started. 

It's also a good time to remind ourselves about the benefits of exposure to microbes found in nature. With COVID we have been handwashing and cleaning almost obsessively. Children need to get outdoors and they can benefit from getting muddy! 

Dirt + water. 

Resources for International Mud Day:

• History of Mud Day at the World Forum Foundation. 
• The Mud Book by the Discovery Children's Centre. (with lots of seriously muddy photos). 
• Mud Glorious Mud at Muddy Faces (UK). 
• Dirtgirl's Mudstravaganza Content Kit at Dirtgirl World (AU). 
• International Mud Day: Celebrating our connection to each other and nature through the earth by Gillian McAuliffe.

In addition to mud play, a little gardening can also help to create connections to nature.

Gardening and growing vegetables can be a good way to maintain contact with nature on a regular basis, perhaps all year round.

Let's go barefoot and feel the dirt between our toes.

What can we find? Worms, lots of worms.  

It's also a good time to reread Let Them Eat Dirt, which isn't just about dirt but how microbes from different sources are important in early childhood.

You might also like to read a previous article Notes to a Montessori Parent - Remove Negative Language Around the Weather and Dirt.

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