michael Follett is a specialist in children’s play and is passionate about the importance of playing with mud. “It’s so tangible,” he gushes. “You can use it as paint. You can squeeze it into a jar. You can make a mud pie. You can make cappuccinos!”
As a former play worker and founder and director of Opal (outdoor play and learning), which supports schools to improve play opportunities, Follett is evangelical about the benefits of unstructured outdoor play.
“It’s so important for children’s mental and physical health to have access to green space and nature every day, and if the price of that gets a little muddy, we have to embrace it.”
However, not everyone is so positive about mud. A primary school in north Devon with a brand new mud play area hit the headlines last week after apologizing to parents and carers whose children went home muddy after a particularly heavy rain.
The mud play area at Holsworthy Church of England Primary School, with a digging pit and mud cafe, was part of a recent refurbishment of the school’s outdoor play area.
“We felt our kids needed something better at playtime and lunch,” says principal Amy Frost. “The playground [before] was pristine, but there was nothing for them to do. As schools, we have become quite afraid to allow our children to take risks. It gets to the point where all risk is removed and children don’t learn what risk is and how to manage risk.”
To change this, the school worked with a mentor from Opal and designed different zones for den building, climbing and muddy play. The children wear “active uniforms” – essentially a PE kit – with waterproofs and wellies for when the weather is bad, and hose attachments to wash off mud.
Frost says there have been some comments from people “finding it hard to adjust,” but parents have been overwhelmingly supportive. “My son is caked in mud, but he’s having fun!” one parent commented. Another said: “We’d rather do extra laundry and see them thrive.”
Follett argues school uniforms are part of the problem. “They put these kids in ridiculous white socks, white shirts, nice dresses, court shoes. We need to get Bear Grylls to design primary school uniforms.”
Fewer children in the UK are playing in mud than ever before. Children have less access to unstructured outdoor play today. Their play time has become more organized, there is less of it and their play spaces are more sanitized.
Helen Dodd, a professor of child psychology at the University of Exeter, says: “The decline in children getting muddy is part of our risk aversion. We want to keep children safe and clean and tidy, and in doing so we stop children from doing the things that children do naturally.”
Change was gradual, over generations. “But I think a lot of it has to do with just feeling: is it risky? What could be in the mud? If they put their fingers in their mouths, will they become weak? We gradually become more and more risk-averse and have more control over what children can and cannot do.”
Dodd thinks parenting books may have contributed. “Increasingly, there is the idea that you can do parenting properly, that there is a right way and a wrong way to do it, and with that comes more judgement. And of course, protecting your child is a good thing in the general sense. Nobody wants their child to get hurt.”
So why is it important for children to play in mud? “If they’re young, that’s what they’ll do,” Dodd says. “They’ll walk through muddy puddles, they’ll jump in them, they’ll splash, they’ll want to get their hands in there, feel what the mud feels like.
“If we want to give children space to connect with nature and understand nature, they need to be able to do so in an unrestricted way, and a consequence of that is that they might get muddy.
“There is also research on the benefits of contact with mudjust in terms of the biology of what’s in the mud, and how it affects our immune system. Also as far as sensory things are concerned. Many children now have sensory problems. They don’t like specific textures, they don’t like the feel of different things. And some of that might be because it’s kept too clean.”
Children have never seen so much and experienced so little, says Follett. “All their experiences are secondary, through screens closed in bedrooms or strapped into cars with iPads in front of them.
“What they lack is real primary experience, touch, feel, manipulate. You know that feeling of squeezing out a handful of mud, and it all comes through your fingers? You’re not going to get that playing Minecraft.”
Tips for enjoying mud
1 Let them start young. If they haven’t felt their hands in mud or a range of textures before the age of three, they’re probably not going to like it.
2 It doesn’t have to be a big trip into the wilderness, it could be a little muddy area in the back garden. Use cutlery, bowls and saucepans for pre-cooking. Try mud painting.
3 Wear appropriate clothing. If you’re in nature and you’re wearing the right clothes for it, you’ll embrace it more.
4 As a parent or caregiver, if you don’t feel comfortable playing in mud, pretend you do. Your child will be guided by you.
5 Be sensible where you let your children play. Do not play where you know there is animal poo.
