Supporting school readiness with mud play may not make sense at first glance, but if you look closer, you’ll find lots of learning under the messy muck.

For example, mud play promotes sensory integration and awareness. Tactile experience with mud’s texture, temperature, and even taste makes kids more aware of their sense of touch. Mud play is also a chance for kids to hone their sense of balance and understand how their bodies move through space.

Supporting School Readiness With Mud Play

Here’s a short video explaining the benefits of supporting school readiness with mud play:

Photos in the video provided by Melinda Marshall, Nicole Warren, Sharon Hopson, and Natashja Treveton.

You’ll find a companion handout on heavy work and school readiness here.

Messing with mud also builds muscle strength and control–both necessary for reading and writing. For example, leaping, running, sliding, flipping, and spinning in mud builds core strength. And scooping, pouring, shaping, and rolling it into tasty mud pies strengthens muscles in the hands and wrists.

Self-regulation skills–vital in kindergarten– also develop during play as kid practice sharing, or waiting their turn to drive the tractor through the mud.

But wait, there’s more! Mud play also provides a chance to practice social skills. Learning to effectively navigate interactions with others is a vital component of school readiness.

Mud play social interactions help build language skills. Kids practice the give and take of conversation as they plan, prepare, discuss, bicker, and play with mud.

Playing with mud builds thinking skills, too. For example, children practice solving problems, learn about cause-and-effect relationships, and observe how the physical world works when they’re knee-deep in mud play.

Finally, mud is fun–and mood matters when it comes to learning. Childhood zips past so very quickly. It’s important to infuse it with opportunities for joy, adventure, and fun. Mud play is worth the mess. It not only brings smiles to children’s faces, it helps get them school ready.

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