Getting Muddy for Children’s Health and Wellbeing!

The importance of children’s wellbeing is, and should always be, front and centre of an Early Years education. Their state of well-being has a direct impact on a child’s motivation to get involved in their environment, playing, learning and developing as happy, healthy individuals.

Creating a solid foundation for good mental health and wellbeing in the Early Years calls for (among other things) plenty of time to connect with nature! Time spent outdoors has a wonderfully calming effect on young minds - an escape from the overstimulation of modern life and all that technology, in a relaxed atmosphere where they can play creatively and explore nature at will.

Early Years settings that promote plenty of time outdoors and in the outdoor classroom, for nature-based learning, frequently report noticeable improvements in children’s learning, their attention spans, and their ability to emotionally regulate.

And there is a science behind it - nature provides a multi-sensory playground after all! All the textures, tones, sights and sounds of the natural world, when properly explored and experienced, contribute towards the development of our neural pathways - a crucial part of childhood development for cognitive ability.

Building nature, and especially messy, muddy play, into your early learning environment, creates the perfect platform for positive mental health. 

When Life Gives You Rain - Jump in Muddy Puddles!

We’ve all heard it before, and this rings so true for children! Time after time, research shows just how important it is for children to be given the opportunity to get their hands dirty. To get out there and play with healthy soil, plants, sand and pebbles, all those bits and bobs they like to pick up and poke around (ok, granted, within reason!)

Not long ago, the BBC reported on the health and wellbeing benefits of muddy play, and it makes interesting reading. From boosting the immune system, to developing fine motor skills, cognitive skills, reducing stress levels and improving mental and physical health - regular exposure to nature and opportunities for play with natural resources (soil and mud!) can have a hugely significant, positive influence on a child’s life, helping them to reach their full potential as happy, healthy and resilient young people. And isn’t that all we really want for them?

Overcoming Obstacles

No matter how great an Early Years setting might be, we have all experienced times when getting everyone outdoors has been a bit of a challenge. Recent storms, freezing wind and rain really don’t help with motivation - but they certainly do help to bring the mud!

And while there are always going to be some parents who like to complain about the excess laundry (eye roll), well their children are probably the ones that value the opportunities to ‘play muddy’ in their Early Years setting the most.

As always, we’re here to help Early Years providers overcome those obstacles and get going with the most marvellous, messy, muddy play - in outdoor spaces that will provide children with meaningful, motivating and mood-boosting holistic play and learning experiences all year round.

If the weather really does impact outdoor play in your setting, it’s worth considering the benefits of an outdoor classroom or timber canopy to provide shelter from the elements. They can significantly expand opportunities for outdoor play in all weathers, maximising use of your space.

Great Ideas For Engaging Children in Messy Play

Messy play is always a hit with little ones. Whether it's crafting mud pies at a Mud Kitchen or creating a beautiful garden in a planter, these types of ideas are guaranteed to get your children excited and raring to go.

Here are some great muddy ideas to try with your EYFS students!

Stick in the Mud

Honestly, sometimes the most simple things are the best. There’s no need to overthink muddy play, and once they’ve got their hands in, children will go with the flow and follow wherever their natural curiosity and creativity takes them.

Sticks and twigs snapped from a tree in the nursery garden make for the best prodders, pokers and potion-stirrers that little hands can find. If your EYFS outdoor environment doesn’t naturally lend itself to forming much of a muddy area, a Mud Box or a Dig Pit will take care of that for you (and give you a little more control as to exactly what your mud is made up of!)

Mud Kitchen Mash-Up

A well made Mud Kitchen is super simple to set up. Once in place, all you really need is a few kitchen utensils and a healthy dose of mud!

Simplicity is key here too as it encourages children to use their imaginations and get creative with what they have got. The following items will bring all sorts of playful possibilities - of course you don’t need all of them, whatever you can get your hands on this is just a suggested list to pick from.

It’s always worth asking parents to donate any old/unwanted kitchen items - they might be past their best for cooking with, but perfect for playing with! Swapping and refreshing items from time to time brings new angles for muddy play and keeps it different and interesting:

• Pots and pans for ‘cooking’ with
• Containers and bowls for mixing
• Cups, plastic cutlery, plates and bowls for “serving”
• Tupperware
• Kitchen utensils such as wooden spoons, whisks, spatulas
• Shape or biscuit cutters
• Plastic jugs 
• Pie tins 
• Turkey basters and empty ketchup bottles for sucking up, squeezing and squirting
• Salt and pepper shakers
• Sieves and colanders
• Ice cream scoops
• Potato mashers
• Weighing scales

Top up the soil, get your aprons on and off you go making your muddy delights! Children will love mixing up their own mud using any combination of soil, compost, sand and water for different textures. They can stir in other materials such as washing up liquid, shampoo, glitter, leaves and petals and so on for added interest!

Paint a Muddy Masterpiece

This is a really fun way of developing creative art and design skills, mark-making and discovering different properties in nature. Make your own muddy paint!

Charcoal and vegetable oil added to mud make for a darker, thicker paint that will stand out on paper. In summer and autumn, berries and fruits such as blackberries are available in abundance along footpaths - going on a berry hunt brings a healthy dose of fresh air and some vibrant colours for your mud paint! Grass and leaves give a splash of green.

Challenge children to find other colours in nature.  Then the method is simple - put your ingredients in your outdoor Mud Kitchen with as much water as you need and get to work with a potato masher, or your bare hands - anything goes!

Muddy Bread

Making mud pies is always a favourite activity for young children - but what about a freshly baked mud loaf?!

Encourage them to knead together an easy mix of flour and water in your outdoor learning environment - at the Tuff Spot Table is a good spot for this as it’s easy to knead and roll the dough on, and quick to wipe down afterwards.

Now they can get creative with colouring and ‘flavouring’ their dough with all sorts of interesting ingredients. Soil and sand for seasoning, a few torn leaves, twigs or petals for an extra dash of colour, stones, oats or glitter for texture - it’s all down to personal taste!

Don’t forget to ‘bake’ your loaves in the Mud Kitchen oven!

As well as getting stuck in with the mud and mess, this is a great activity for developing fine motor skills, kneading the stretchy dough and working it into shapes. You can bring in some early numeracy too with counting out ingredients and measuring quantities, and experimenting with size and weight comparisons.

Flower Bombs

A step on from making mud pies - this is a really lovely way to enhance nature in your Early Learning outdoor environment.

In early spring, as children form their little mud pies with just soil and water, provide them with some wildflower seeds and ask them to sprinkle them into the mixture. Take the ‘flower bombs’ to a designated corner and lay them out - preferably somewhere sunny, grassy and/or raised where they will be protected from little feet.

The children will love taking care of them, sprinkling them with water regularly so they don’t dry out completely. Keep an eye out together for the first shoots and enjoy all the flowers they produce in the summer!

Go Grow a Garden!

Naturally one of the best ways to ensure a healthy dose of muddy play - gardening is just so good for the soul, and teaches children so much about the natural world around us.

Set up a gardening area in your EYFS playground and children will love to dig, plant, water, and see the fruits of their labour coming to life. Purpose built Planters are a doddle to install, and can be used to create a garden in any playground environment, even where space is limited.

And with so much seasonal variety here in the UK, it’s not hard to find plants that will keep small hands busy looking after them, and enjoying their sensory offerings all year round!

Let the Messy Fun Begin!

Whatever you decide to do, we hope your young learners have lots of fun messing around in the mud! Regardless of how you lay out the activities, you'll be playing a vital role in helping your children develop healthy mindsets and behaviours.

For over 25 years, Pentagon Play have been designing, crafting, and installing outstanding playground facilities for schools and nurseries across the UK. We have developed a full and unique range of Mud, Sand and Water Play products for the Early Years - from our exciting all-inclusive Head Chef Mud Kitchen Package (double the mud for double the fun!) to our handy and practical mobile outdoor storage solutions, keeping those wellies and waterproofs ready to go!

Whatever the size of your space or budget, we will work with you to create a dream play space. If you would like guidance for improving your messy, muddy outdoor play provision, please do contact us! We’d love to hear from you.