While I am waiting for my International contacts in both the
Netherlands and Nepal to answer some of my questions about excellence and
equity of care…….I found a great piece about such a fun subject. I hope that you all will be able to take part
in this FUN day!
JUNE 29 IS INTERNATIONAL MUD DAY! Organized by the World
Forum Foundation, Nature Action Collaborative for Children. You are urged to spend sometime in the MUD
WITH your children. Make mud pies,
splash, build, slide, roll, and squish; learn about mud, earth, and the science
of it. There is even a Mud Day Facebook
page! World Forum Foundation has a
resources page with pictures, books, and articles all about mud to use with
educating your children (World Forum Foundation, 2014). There are also
logos to use in your newsletters.
Mud Day was organized in Nepal in 2009 with 58 orphanage
children in mind to acquaint them with Mother Nature. This was their big chance to interact and
learn about soil, mud, water, earthworms, and everything they experienced. However, some of the children could not
participate because of a lack of clothing.
Bishnu Bhatta (organizer) told of this problem to a World Forum Friend –
Gillian McAuliffe from Australia. This
friend asked her class of 6 & 7 year olds, “Imagine if you could not play
in mud. Imagine if you could not have fun” (McAuliffe, 2010). They immediately began to offer their clothes
for the orphans. They began to collect
clothes and money to send to the orphanage.
The money was also used to give the children a meat meal (they had not
had any meat in over 4 months)!
Bold Park, Australia – 2009. The Australian children were
able to participate in their own mud day experiences like their new found
friends in Nepal. In doing these things
the Nature Action Collaborative for Children (a project of the World Forum
Foundation) was established and International Mud Day was born in 2011.
McAuliffe, G. (2009). The Wonder of Mud: Reflections from Australia. Retrieved June 7, 2014 from http://ccie-media.s3.amazonaws.com/wfwp/mudday2011/downloads/Wonder_Mar10-Mud-Article.pdf
World Forum Foundation. (2014). International Mud Day. Retrieved June 7, 2014 from http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/working-groups/nature/international-mud-day/
Kimberly -
ReplyDeleteWOW! What a great story and what a fun day to experience MUD! This is where I really miss not having my own classroom and/or center because I would love to have the opportunity to experience Mud Day with the children. However, I can do the next best thing and pass on this information to all the centers I will come in contact with between now and June 29. Thanks for sharing this information!
Gena
Kimberly,
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that there was a international MUD day. People that I grew up with played MUD cakes for hours a day. I think that it is a good reliever of stress and parents must do this which build relationships as much time is spent making mud pies, splash, build, slide, roll, and squish; learn about mud, earth, and the science of it. I did not now that there is even a Mud Day Facebook page. I agree that children learn to interact with each other, learn about soil, mud, water, earthworms, and everything they experienced. I'm sorry that some did not get a chance to participate in the MUD exercise because of a lack of clothing. I think that it is great that these children were given clothing and a meat meal.