International Mud Day: Where Children's Laughter Meets Sensory Discovery

7/9/2024

Splashes filled the air as children laughed and jumped into puddles of mud. Giggles echoed as friends coated their slide with mud, creating a slippery surface for sliding into a mud pool. On June 28th, Children Today celebrated International Mud Day—a cherished occasion that has become a special holiday at our facility, uniting all the children for a day of sensory-filled fun.

International Mud Day finds its origins in the 2009 World Forum for Early Childhood Care and Education, which aimed to champion outdoor play. Embracing the universal truth that children worldwide share a love for mud, this day provides a unique opportunity for our little ones to immerse themselves in sensory exploration.

CHILDREN AS SENSORY SEEKERS

According to Children Today Center Director Alexis Vasquez, this special day allowed our little ones to engage freely with their senses, surrounded by pools filled with various textures of mud. From runny mud to thick clay-like patches, every corner of our playground offered a new sensory adventure. Children giggled as they slid into the mud, splashed with glee, and explored the textures under their feet.

“Children are sensory seekers in general – most of our children are sensory seekers, so Mud Day does really get them immersed,” Vasquez said. “Most kids don’t get the opportunity to puddle jump or full-on play in mud so it gives them a chance to interact with nature and their senses.”

Mud Day also champions unstructured play, where every child decides how to interact with the mud. There are no rules to how each child will play with the mud, so it opens up the ability for children to be creative.

“We really were allowing that free play. Exploration is definitely a part of our philosophy, and this particular day is more of a fun day,” Vasquez said. “For Mud Day it is very open-ended what they do. The teachers in the background – watching and helping – but they don’t set rules for how to play in the mud.”

ACTIVITIES FOR EVERY CHILD

For those seeking a quieter experience, our activities included painting mud murals with mud-filled jars and excavating dinosaur toys from dirt bins—huge hits with our toddlers and infants who wanted to explore without getting too messy.

“We try to make it so that every kid can join at some kind of sensory level. We’ll have big pools of mud, we’ll have mud painting so that you don’t have to touch the mud,” Vasquez said. “We’ll do smaller bins of mud for mud pies, things like that, so that if kids want to touch it but don’t want to get fully immersed in it [they still get to participate].”

A DAY OF TOGETHERNESS

International Mud Day also served as a rare occasion for our infant, toddler and preschool classrooms to come together. It was heartwarming to witness older children guiding and playing alongside their younger peers, fostering a sense of community.

“You’ll see that our preschoolers will be a little bit more gentle,” Vasquez said. “They will have to take a little bit longer to take a turn in the mud or the water because toddlers and babies don’t understand the concept of waiting in line just yet. It’s a big kind of family event in that sense, just that all ages are playing in the mud together.”

At Children Today, International Mud Day isn't just about getting messy—it's about fostering joy, exploration, and togetherness through the simple pleasure of playing with mud.