As a child, if you had the opportunity to dig through the dirt to find colorful rocks and other “treasures” or bury your time capsule, you’re lucky and have enjoyed the benefits of mud play! Aside from providing priceless memories for children, mud play is an excellent way for them to develop important skills, unwind, and express their imaginations.
According to recent medical studies, it’s also beneficial to your child’s physical and emotional well-being and it’s never too early to start — mud play can even benefit babies! Is it good to play in mud? In this article, you’ll learn more about the health benefits of playing in mud and how to ensure that your child’s mud play is safe.
The benefits of mud play that will convince you to let your child play today!
This simple but important play have many benefits of developing theses skills of children:
2-Personal Social and Emotional Development
3- Cognitive and intellectual Development and Understanding the world
4- Fine motor skills such as writing and drawing
Don’t miss: Benefits of role play article.
Arouses the Creative Spirit
As one of our nursery activities in Dubai, Mud Art is a fantastic medium for expressing one’s individuality and self-expression. The possibilities for mud art include mud sculptures, pictures, and mud body art.
Improves the ability to deal with problems and find solutions
Among the benefits of mud play, imagine all the negotiating, discussing, and sharing in a kitchen as an example of cooperative play. In the Mud Kitchen, kids can also work independently and solve problems.
What do children learn in nursery
Gross motor skills
As part of the benefits of mud kitchen play in early years, children can do a wide range of things in the Mud Kitchen, from cooking to cleaning. Children can make various creations such as a mud pie! This will help their fine motor skills, as they will be mixing, scooping and pouring lots of natural materials, e.g. pine cones and leaves! This activity will also help their mathematical development, such as weighing, measuring and adding. Gross motor skills are required to mix mud flour in a large saucepan, transport heavy buckets, and reach high for a hanging pot.
Work on Your Children’s Listening and Turn-Taking Skills | benefits of mud play
Consider how youngsters learn the benefits of mud play through role play. Playing in the mud engages all of the senses. As a result, there are plenty of topics for children to discuss. The Mud Kitchen allows them to put these abilities into practice.
Plays a Part in Our Emotional Well-Being
Studies on the benefits of mud play in early years emphasize on the sheer joy that comes from a day spent playing in the dirt and mud. Dirt is where the magic happens. Mycobacterium vaccae, a microscopic bacteria found in mud, has been linked to the positive effects of Mud Play in recent scientific studies. These bacteria increase serotonin levels.
Encourages protection of the environment
As one of the benefits of mud play, consider the importance of getting children outside to reconnect with nature in today’s world. Playing in the mud fosters memories and a connection to our planet when the nature-deficit disorder is rising. Planting, nurturing, and harvesting a garden will instill a sense of responsibility for preserving our natural world. “Planting seeds of inspiration”.
Encourages opportunities for inclusive, fun-filled education
Consider adding Mud Kitchen Challenges to your open-ended play to fully enjoy the benefits of mud play early childhood. These are excellent ways to supplement open-ended play with additional educational content.
Improves Immune System
To understand the benefits of mud play, look at kids who play outside in the mud and see how often they get sick. Think about the kids who repeatedly douse themselves in antibacterial potions and never go outside. You’ll discover that the filthiest kids are the ones who are in better health. According to scientific studies, the same microscopic bacteria found in the dirt that can make you happy can also help your child’s immune system.
Beneficial for the Skin and the Heart
Adults spend a lot of money on mud bath spas and the benefits of mud therapy, but only some understand the benefits of mud play, but children have known this for a long time. As part of the benefits of mud on skin, mud soothes and calms!
Benefits of Playing with Mud for children at a glance
- It encourages creativity and imagination as children experiment with the mud, mix it, make mud pies and mud ‘meals’.
- The children will practice gross and fine motor skills as they scoop, pour and mould the mud.
- Problem solving skills are enhanced as they see how to transport the mud from one place to another, investigate how the mud reacts when adding more water and try to find hidden objects in the mud.
- Children can learn how to share and take turns with the mud play toys and resources.
- Children will develop their senses as they explore the texture of the mud.
- Mud play has a calming effect and makes children feel happier, so it is great for regulating their emotions.
- Children can be taught social awareness as they become aware of the environment through playing with mud and nature.
- Mud helps to Build Stronger Immune Systems.
- Mud can even benefit the heart and skin!
Simple Mud Play Ideas to Try at Home
It’s very important to give the children the opportunity to play in mud.
- If you visit a country with lots of rain and green areas, let children play in the muddy puddles and grass!
- Let children feel the texture of soil in your garden or planters, help them to water and care for the plants.
- Let your little one paint with mud, you can add some paint or food colour to make it even more interesting!
- Let children build a tower using mud, give them some blocks, stones or sticks and let their imagination run wild! You can even use real bricks with mud ‘cement’ if you have them.
- Create a small world in a washing up tub by adding animals, dinosaurs, stones, grass and mud.
- Let your children find toy animals stuck in the mud.
- Create a mud kitchen, add some casseroles, spoons, forks and plates and let children use their imagination to create some recipes.
- And if you’re feeling really adventurous – throw mud balls!
Don’t miss this article: When can Children Bathe or Shower Alone?
It’s the time to play with mud, the children revel in touching, exploring and getting dirty in the mud!
Mud play is now looked at as an essential teaching tool for young children. Getting dirty and playing in mud has a lot of benefits in all areas of child development skills!
First we will define what mud is and then look at the benefits of playing with mud, finally, I will give you some top tips for trying out mud play at home!
What is mud? And how can we make it?
It’s very easy to make mud, you can just mix soil with water. Sand and water can also be used as a substitute if you don’t have any soil to hand, or a mixture of sand and soil.
To make it more fun and add to the sensory experience you can mix in objects such as stones, marbles, shells, leaves, twigs and other natural objects.
Takeaway
Playing in the mud can be good for children of any age, even infants! Remember the benefits of mud play applies to all ages. In our nursery in Jumeirah, we believe sensory play is a fantastic way for your child to become more tactile and learn new things. It also aids in the acclimatization of children to their natural surroundings and outdoor play (and away from mobile screens). Mud is not “dirty,” so don’t be concerned.
Children exposed to a few germs and good bacteria in the womb may be less susceptible to allergies and other types of diseases later in life. Playing with mud is recommended by doctors, so take your baby out and let them play and enjoy the benefits of muddy play.
Here at the Little Dreamers Nursery we implement playing with the mud into our weekly planning and schedule.
If you need any further information or activity ideas, please feel free to contact us at The Little Dreamers Nursery. We are always happy to help!
Our other Sensory and Messy Activities in nursery
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Mud playing was a usual activity for children when I was child. Now with modern technology people have forgotten its benefits. Thanks for sharing this article.
Thanks for you for sharing experience.