Thousands of schools, ECE centres and families from around the world have taken up the challenge to play in mud on the 29th of June since the idea was promoted in 2011 at the World Forum on Early Childhood Care and Education in Hawaii.
Establishing relationships with each other, and understanding the things we have in common, is essential to the development of respect for the differences across the world. One day in June, International Mud Day gives the opportunity to pause and consider the connection we all have to the earth as you get muddy.
International Mud Day
Celebrating our connection to each other and nature through the earth.Every child should have mud pies, grasshoppers,water bugs, tadpoles, frogs, mud turtles, wild strawberries, acorns, chestnuts, trees to climb. Brooks to wade…bees, butterflies, various animals to pet, hayfields, pine-cones, rocks to toll, sand, snakes and hornets; any child who has been deprives of these has been deprived of the best part of…education.
History of International Mud Day
In 2009 at the World Forum for Early Childhood Care and Education in Belfast the idea of International Mud Day had its beginnings. Two members of the Nature Action Collaborative for Children, Gillian McAuliffe from Western Australia and Bishnu Bhatta from Nepal discussed the challenges children faced when playing in mud in each other’s context.
Gillian reflected on the lack of mud as Perth is situated on a sandy plain and also the reluctance of the culture to ‘get dirty.’ Bishnu on the other hand had lots of mud but many children did not have enough clothes to be able to get them dirty or soap to wash them. On her return to Australia, Gillian who is the Director of Teaching and Learning at Bold Park Community School, told this story to a group of seven and eight year olds. The Bold Park children decided they could send clothes to the children in Nepal so that they could play in the mud. They raised $1000 in three weeks and sent it to Bishnu to buy some clothes for some children there. So in September 2009 Bishnu did this and arranged a special day for the children of the Panchkhal orphanage which included their first meat meal in five months.
Since then the two groups have celebrated a very special bond and played in the mud together, although in different countries. Four years later, in 2013, a group of six families from Bold Park are travelling to Nepal to take part in Mud Day celebrations with the children of Nepal. They have also raised money to complete a renovation project at the orphanage. At last, they will play in mud together in the same country. And perhaps in 2014 some of the children from Panckhal orphanage in Nepal will visit Australia to celebrate Mud Day with Bold Park Community School.
The World Forum community offers the opportunity for us all to connect in such wonderful and surprising ways, building global understanding and relationships.
International Mud Day in the News
International Mud Day is children and early childhood professionals all over the world celebrating nature, outdoors, and mess by getting really muddy. Check out some memorable Mud Day’s in the news across the globe.
