Day 35: fun with mud

I have been wanting to do some mud play with Sam for a while, even before I started this daily journey.  However I never seem to remember right after the rain so that there is natural mud in our backyard.  Last night it was suppose to rain pretty hard so I thought today would be perfect.  PLUS I got the most amazing inspiration for mud play from Let the Children Play Definitely go take a look at the amazing mud kitchen they have set up over there.  We couldn't set up a kitchen but I was convinced that I could get her to think of it as mixing, stirring and cooking with the mud. 

Since it did not rain last night AT ALL.  I had to improvise with the making of the mud.  I had originally thought that I could use the rain barrel but it was a pain in the butt to bring bucket after bucket of water out there and there wasn't enough gravity to pull the water across our yard (a slight up hill to the back) and all the way out to the mud.  SO that meant that I had to use the hose (BOO) to make the mud.  We only ran it for a little while and we decided to create a little "pond" for the water to collect in.  She loved the little pond and watching the water run into it. 
However at first she did not get that she could get dirty and actually play in the mud.  She filled her bucket and started watering the neighbors plants!  (maybe she is a little too involved in the gardening chores!)
But once I really showed her how to use the tools, play in the mud and "stir" it with a stick she really got into it. 
She quickly got very dirty and loved it.   We made mud-tea, "drank" mud, stirred mud and watched little rivers of mud flow.  The two funniest parts of the mud experience were when Sam started hiding her tools down in the mud and then would turn to me and say "Mommy where did it go?"  She would reach in the mud, pull out the tool and scream "Here it is!"  The other funny moment was when she asked me to pick up the bricks to find bugs so she could water them!  She poured buckets of water on the poor ants, pill bugs and spiders but bless her heart she just thought they needed a drink.  

Have you played in the mud lately? Leave me a comment and let me know what you did, what tools or toys you used and how it went!

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The Nitty Gritty!

If you have older kids that might lose interest in mud quickly consider taking on a more in-depth project like a  "Backyard River System".  Check out this amazing idea at this website.  This would be such an amazing project for older kids to tackle and you could still include younger kids as well.  I thought maybe I would try this out with Sam but I know that it is too complex for two years old but since we have this great mud area in our backyard I think I will for sure set this up next summer.

Comments

[Angela]

That looks like so much fun. My kids find mud very easily especially in Spring. I blogged about it in (Signs of Spring). Like Sam, they were so happy. Good for you for helping her get dirty!
Peace, Angela

[MaeKellan]

Mud, we love to make mud pies with old muffin tins. Sam looks like she is really enjoying herself!

[jodie]

i am TOTALLY setting up an outdoor kitchen!!! LOVE the ideas on that website! maybe we'll work on it when sam's here!!!

[Juliet Robertson]

This is a nice complimentary post to Jennifers at "Let the Children Play".

In terms of backyard river systems, once your children are a wee bit older, you can make wonderful canal systems from blue tarp and bricks. I've been blogging a lot about a primary school called "The Coombs". They set up a system that went all around the school yard. I didn't see it - just the photos but it was a clever idea.

[Lindsay @ Bytes of Memory]

I need to create something like this for Sammy! We hardly ever get mud in our yard.. but there are a few posts that I could add some water to and play!

[Andrea]

Yea mud! I just saw your comment over at One Small Change, about getting stains out of cloth diapers. I found that the best thing to bleach out about 90% of the stains was to hang them to dry in the sun. Good luck!

[Rachel]

Love the muddy shoes! She's having a blast!

[Beachcomber]

Looks like she was having a lot of fun playing in the mud.