Mud Play in Kinder 

By Kirsty Meese (Kinder Director) 

It all began with a small patch of ground where the grass hadn't been growing. One of our Kinder kids wondered what might happen if they poured some water on the patch of ground and then scrapped it with a spade. Slowly but surely the little patch of ground began to turn into mud. Another child, seeing this play, decided to join in and another and another, and over the course of the week, the children made their own mud patch at Kinder. 

There has been much jumping, splashing, mud pie making, and even experimentation with a mudslide. The children learned pretty quickly that pouring muddy water down the slide then sliding down in your wet weather gear, makes the slide all that much faster!! It has been fascinating to observe the children learn through play as they explore cause and effect, along with velocity as they experiment with how to make the slide faster. It has been delightful to witness the children resolve a variety of problems through their play such as; 

• How do you not get mud splashed in your face? Wear your hat like a face mask!
• How do you not get muddy feet when wearing gumboots? Place your trousers over your gumboots, not in your gumboots.
• How do you not have to keep changing your clothes? Wear your wet weather gear before you play in the mud patch.

Team Kinder can't wait to see what other problems the children will solve as they continue to explore mud.