Before I fell head over heels in love with nature, mud was a "dirty word."  Literally!  Mud on the walls, mud on the floors, mud on clothes, all invoked a gasp of terror from me.  But, like everything else in nature, I've learned to appreciate, yes, even mud.  Do you remember as a child taking your shoes off and squishing your feet in the mud?  How cool and refreshing that was on a hot summer day!  To my mother's dismay, never once was there a care or concern about getting my clothes muddy.

"This is a material that provides children with a rich range of sensations and opportunities for play.  Mud is just good, clean soil, easily washed off and harmless, yet many parents shudder at the thought of their precious children becoming mudlarks.  Relax.  Every once in a while there is no harm in letting children wear their oldest clothes and get well and truly stuck in it."

- from Nature's Playground, by Fiona Danks and Joe Schofield

Just recently Hannah came carrying inside her latest mud creations - Mr. and Mrs. Mud and Baby Mud (see photo above).  She, being my artsy one, has created numerous works of art from mud.  She proceeded out to the back deck and found a perfect little decorative birdhouse for the Mud Family to live in!  I especially loved the special touch on Baby Mud of the white clover picked for Mama Mud!

So my simple backyard nature tip for today is to encourage, not discourage, an occasional tromp in the mud, perhaps even take your shoes off and enjoy the coolness!  And, if it doesn't happen naturally (which it probably will!), show them how they can have fun making a little mud art using mud and other materials in nature; and/or bring along some molds and tools such as old plastic bowls and cups and plastic utensils.

I just happen to live around an area where mud is usually not hard to find, especially this year when it's been quite rainy.  However, if your backyard is covered in it's entirety with grass, consider digging up a small box area just for dirt and mud play.  Or use an old sandbox to fill with dirt.  If the rain's holding out, get out the garden hose and make some mud!

How could we discount the need to "get our hands" into creating something from something such as mud/clay which is quite moldable and fun to work with?  In attempts to make this need cleaner, human beings have created such things as Playdoh and the like.  But... my kids seem to still prefer to create and be inspired by using God's natural creation in mud!

"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."

~ Genesis 2:7