Dear StrongStart families,

Children  have always enjoyed playing with dirt, sand and mud.  It is a joyful sensory experience! It is messy play and sometimes children are discouraged from playing this way by adults for that very reason.  Children will, when allowed,  happily get dirty and messy and spend their time digging, squeezing, splashing, cooking with mud and making mud pies and mud soups.

It is fun but is it learning, is it beneficial for children’s development? Rest assured – it is! Because it is so important for their learning and development, many early learning programs have started incorporating more playing outside in nature, sensory explorations of dirt and mud and “Mud kitchens”. This type of play enhances children’s learning about world around them and nature through their senses, encourages creativity, builds problem-solving skills, promotes physical development and also benefits their social and emotional development.

I encourage you to try: dress your children for messy play, provide some some dirt and water, perhaps some old dishes and spoons and let the learning and fun start! Make sure there is an easy way for them to wash hands thoroughly after they are done.  If they are playing outside with dirt: check for safety (no animal waste, chemicals, no sharp or abrasive objects) and set a clear boundaries around where they can and can’t dig.

Here are several pictures of a fun day in StrongStart playing with water and dirt in our pop-up mud kitchen. We added freshly cut grass and some sticks, chestnuts and pine cones.

D. was cooking up a storm, first meat balls then he gave grandma a taste of his mushrooms.

Playing with water in nature creates mud in dirt as N. discovered: Look, I made mud by myself!

To find out why playing with dirt and mud is beneficial for children in all areas of child development and for some ideas for mud play read here:

handsonaswegrow.com/10-benefits-mud-play/
https://www.communityplaythings.com/resources/articles/2016/the-benefits-of-mud-play

https://www.healthline.com/health/childrens-health/mud-play

Ms. Lillian