International Mud Day - Filosofiska Förskola/Preschool

Giant from Euro Academy checking out the sweet smelling flowers ... he has been on a round the world trip visiting Australia before us. Allwoing the preschoolers in Australia, USA and Sweden to get to know a little more about each other. Svea the moose started her trip with the children at Euro Academy - now she is with Melanie and her children in Australia - and soon they will all be returning home to tell their adventures...

the set up - before the children came out. We had the mud-play right on the square -  passers by stopped to look and ask what was going on - and were reminded of their days as children playing with mud.

Our sign for International Mud Day - a separate post will be coming if you are interested in finding out how we made this... 

a turned over fruitbox with 2 black circles painted on was just right for a mud kitchen on the move...

water water water - mud play for these 1-3 year olds was VERY much about the water...

some children were not at all interested in mud play - but water play really interested them. There was a continuous queue for water top ups...

in the beginning most children were rather careful, using spoons to touch the mud - but after a while they got into the  rhythm of using their hands... that it was OK to get messy...

PLENTY of transferring mud from one container to another - and it was quite clear that some children had a very clear plan of what they were doing...

pouring pouring, back and forth

filling

testing

and there was lots of cooking...

picking up mud with tongs was quite the challenge

mixing to just the right consistency

sharing recipes...

collecting equipment - to ensure the perfect mud-pie outcome...

making mud chocolate balls

with plenty of sprinkles - (coloured rice and lentils)

they almost look good enough to eat

rolling in the "sprinkle mix"

using a chocolate box to create patterns - perfect for little hands to squish...

anyone for eggs?

or a plateful of soup?

why not climb in? But no-one was prepared to go in bare-foot this time...

adding flowers to the recipe

the stove top was also great to practice jumping skills

and every once in a while there was an opportunity to explore by yourself while the others busied themselves with mud ball juggling, or water the flowers on the square, or chasing teachers with muddy hands with the biggest smiles on their faces....