11 Benefits Of Mud Play For Toddlers
Who doesn’t like to play with mud? Mud play is versatile and it has something for every age group. But the benefits of mud play for toddlers are next level because they embrace mud with zero negativity (pun intended) For them it’s NOT dirt. So they get to play with mud and enjoy it with so much freedom.
What comes to mind as soon as you hear mud play? Well, as a parent, I was not super excited about it at first.
Imagine your kid getting their favourite jumper covered in mud, their hair covered with dry patches of mud, smearing mud on their face as they try to scratch their eye.
On top of everything, are you noticing your child stealthily putting a spoonful of mud on her lip to taste it??
Yes, I am talking about my kids. They did them all and loved every bit of it. As for me, well the kid inside me giggled with them and the parent inside me felt a bit confused.
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Benefits of Mud Play for Toddlers
Mud play is part and parcel of early childhood play. It’s fun, exciting and free for all.
The benefits of mud play for toddlers are just too many to count. Plus it provides many opportunities for open ended play. Let’s see what they are.
1. Mud engages all senses
Mud is slimy, sticky and gooey. Mud has an earthy and dusty smell. Well if you don’t know yet it tastes like dry tree bark or tingly mushrooms or the taste may change from place to place.
Children use their eyes to see, hands and skin to feel its texture, nose to smell and on a rare occasion mouth to taste. This kind of sensory play is a great way for kids to learn about the world around them.
It helps them develop cognitive skills and experience new things, which will help them in school and in life later on.
2. Mud reduces your susceptibility to depression
Experts believe that exposure to friendly bacteria in mud on a regular basis can reduce a child’s vulnerability to depression.
3. Mud fosters creativity
Mud naturally encourages exploration and experimentation. There are endless possibilities as to how we can play with mud.
- Mud hand prints
- Coloured mud
- Mud cooking
- Mud obstacle course
- Mud sculptures
4. Fine motor skills
Fine motor skills involve the use of the smaller muscles of the hand.
Mixing, scooping, pouring mud and sculpting mud gives stimulation to the children’s hands and fingers.
Using these muscles to manoeuvre, handle and shape mud can improve their fine motor skills.
Use your hands to roll out balls of clay and then use them in various ways: bake them in the oven or let them dry out so they turn hard; paint on top of them with watercolours; use cookie cutters to make interesting shapes from the clay (like cookies!).
You can also mix different types of clays together for more vibrant hues! Or try mixing some clay with sand for extra texture–it’ll feel like beach time at home!
5. Gross motor skills
Gross motor skill development involves the large muscles in the arms, legs and torso.
Gross motor activities are important to everyday physical activities like walking, running, throwing, lifting etc.
Jumping in muddy puddles, sliding or rolling on them improves young children’s gross motor skills.
6. Encourage the protection of the environment
As children play in a natural environment with mud, soil, twigs, leaves etc they bond with nature and their innate desire to connect with nature is fostered there.
They learn to love, respect and protect nature while enjoying the shelter it provides.
7. Encourages opportunities for inclusive, fun-filled education
When it comes to mud play, there’s something for everyone.
Toddlers can scoop, squeeze, and mix while the bigger kids can do art, sculpture or pretend play with it. And a mud obstacle course? That’s super fun too.
It’s inclusive because it’s free and everybody has access to it. All you need is some space to get messy in, some old clothes to wear ,a sense of adventure and a willingness to get muddy.
8. Improves immune system
Mud is dirt. It’s full of bacteria. Constant exposure to them requires your body to be equipped with antibodies to fight against them. The more you play with mud, the stronger your immune system is.
9. Encourages imaginative play
As an open ended play activity, mud play encourages imaginative skills.
Children can do experiments, make mud cakes and pretend to eat.
They can make mud castles and their favourite of all mud construction sites is where toy tractors, bulldozers and diggers provide so much joy to little kids
10. Problem solving skills
As they play with mud they may encounter many challenges.
For example if they want to build something and the mud is too runny, they will learn that they need to add more soil or when transporting mud from one place to another they will have to find an effective method to do it with fewer spills and in less time.
All these challenges can improve children’s problem solving skills while bringing them a lot of joy.
11. Improves social skills
There are so many mud play activities that can be done in groups. Mud is something amazing because the more kids there are, the bigger the joy. And you will never run out of mud.
It’s something that can be enjoyed with lots of giggles and fun movements. Children improve their social skills by playing, talking, building with other kids and it also improves their confidence.
5 Awesome Mud Play Activities
Mud Painting
Paint pictures with mud! Making a mud mix and let kids paint their pictures with mud. They can do this by their hands or using a brush.
Mud Kitchen
Mud kitchen is a popular activity to play outdoors with friends or siblings. There are so many role playing activities kids can do. They will need pots and pans to mix mud and cook their muddy lunch.
Make Own Mud
How about some indoor mud activity? There are so many mud recipes to make with basic supplies. You can even colour them. Kids will love to play with made up mud.
Mud Bricks
This is one of my favourite mud activities to play as a child. Making mud bricks are so fun and totally worth it! You will have to find moulds (usually rectangle type) for your kids.
Fill the moulds with mud and let them dry. Then your kids can make structures from the mud bricks.
Mud Car Wash
Washing a dirty toy car is also a fun activity. Play car races or monster truck races and then wash them all with water. This can be a good group activity to play with friends.
More activities to explore : https://muddyfaces.co.uk/outdoor-hub/mud/mud-activities
How to Encourage Mud Play for Toddlers
To make the experience more interesting and exciting, following things will help them immensely to reap the maximum benefits of mud play.
- pots and pans
- buckets
- Toy tractors/diggers
- Spade
- Spatula
- Sieves
- Cooking utensils
- Plastic plates
- Dirt, water
- Wooden spoons
- Items found in nature : rocks, leaves, bark, twigs and branches
How to Prepare Your Own Mud Pit?
Providing muddy play space in your own backyard
Dig in and around the dirt with a stick or gardening tools. Break up clods of dirt and add water. Mix, add and repeat until the mud pit is just right for you.
Mud can be used to paint, draw, make mud pies, there are so many possibilities.
Encourage stomping, digging and splashing in the mud.
Enjoy the environment and the experience of free and child initiated play.
Other Ways To PLAY OUTDOORS
Woodland areas and digging patches are ideal for mud play if you don’t have a back yard, some simple adjustments can be made.
Use woodland troughs, planters and unwanted large tyres with soil inside. Have a bucket full of water nearby. Voila! Your kids will take care of the rest.
Playing in mud as a toddler...
Here are some of my childhood memories associated with mud.
Jumping up and down muddy puddles, sliding down muddy slides, tripping on muddy puddles, squeezing gooey and chocolaty mud to see them coming through the fingers as chocolate spirals. And yeah earthy smell of mud, funny taste (guilty!)
Yes muddy play is simple but can make everlasting memories with us. But the good news is that the benefits of mud play don’t end there.
There’s a lot more in it than we ever imagined. Mud makes you happy. period.
New research has shown that exposure to friendly soil bacteria stimulates the immune system causing the brain to release serotonin, the endorphin used to regulate mood.
That’s why we have so many fond memories associated with mud and that’s why our kids just find their happy place in a muddy puddle.
Things to remember
- Children do taste mud, rainwater or basically dirt sometimes (because they are children) but consuming them in large quantities is NOT part of the game or fun.
So grown ups , let’s keep an eye on our little kids (especially toddlers) when they are mud joying 🙂 - There can be weedicides or pesticides or other areas where the natural quality of the mud and soil can be quite harmful. (even for touching). Let’s be mindful of that.
- Dirt is absolutely fine but after playing it’s necessary for kids to wash, wash, wash, that dirt away and be in clean clothes.
- Put on their old clothes while doing messy play so you will never be anxious about cleaning and removing mud stains.
Summary
We all love to play in the mud. For kids, they may not understand why they enjoy playing with mud, but as a parent you know the benefits of mud play for toddlers are just too many to count.
Come on, it’s time for a mud party!!! Let the kids get muddy and mucky!!!
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