Children at Partou nurseries across the country have marked International Mud Day by rolling up their sleeves for a marathon session of messy, hands-on fun.
International Mud Day began in 2009 following a conversation between educators Gillian McAuliffe from Australia and Bishnu Bhatta from Nepal at the World Forum for Early Childhood Care and Education.
They shared a view that children everywhere, whatever their background, could connect with the Earth and one another through the simple joy of playing in the mud.
This year, Partou picked up the mantle by organising a diverse selection of child-led, outdoor sensory learning activities in numerous nursery locations.
At Partou Old Town in Beaconsfield, children made mud pies, using twigs and leaves to make tasty 'mud cakes.' Some also practiced wall building skills, using tools to lay cement between the bricks.
“As you can imagine, the favourite of all was getting in the mud as they proceeded to make marks on paper using only their feet,” Jennifer Brogan, Partou Old Town Nursery Manager, explained. “Celebrating World Mud Day provided rich, hands-on opportunities for children to learn through play, directly supporting the seven key areas of learning while boosting their immune systems, emotional well-being and physical development.”
At Partou Eldwick Street in Burnley, babies explored and got messy with different textures from the outdoors. Nursery Manager Danielle James said: “Toddlers have a huge interest in Old MacDonald’s Farm, so the team incorporated this into their mud day with a muddy farm activity. Pre-school children made muddy handprints in the paint, enjoyed a mud kitchen making mud pies, and jumped in muddy puddles outdoors.”
All year round, children at Partou Alexandra in Redditch have a beautiful mud kitchen under the trees of their preschool outdoor classroom, a mud cafe in the main garden, and potion making stations across the site. “The citrus mud kitchen was enhanced with an array of homegrown herbs and citrus fruits to bring in sensory exploration and descriptive conversation,” Holly Browning, Partou Alexandra Nursery Manager, said. “We added recipes to provide inspiration and talking points, this also provided the children with meaningful literacy and the opportunity to recognise familiar letters and words.”
And at Partou Woodlands Harrogate, children and team members leapt into an assortment of messy and exciting activities.
“The children took part in house building outside, which involved large scale bricks and diggers, sand and shaving foam,” Nursery Manager Emma Tordoff explained. “The children used their gross motor skills to crawl around the floor to retrieve the bricks and create the cement out of the sand and shaving foam. The children also had our wonderful mud kitchen beaming with endless opportunities for learning.” She added: “Lots of children were unsure about being muddy, however with trust and support from our amazing staff, they learnt that there was always going to be an opportunity to get changed and have a clean cosy environment to wind down in after all the fun!”
Kirsty Jackson, Partou Co-Managing Director, said: “The recently published ‘Partou Guide to Play’ highlights the benefits of sensory play which includes messy play.
“It’s a wonderful way to connect with nature while building confidence and creativity.
“It was fantastic to see so many Partou nurseries marking International Mud Day by embracing the joy and learning experiences that exploratory play provides.”