As most of you are probably aware at Free Rangers we like a bit of mud, or rather we like a lot of mud! We decided to use mud as an interesting material to mark make with INSIDE the Den last week.
This involved collecting some mud and allowing the children to explore its texture using their hands or sticks on one of our tough spot trays.
We introduced the activity by looking at some photographs of cave paintings to inspire our children and to explain that long ago, before we had pens and pencils, people used to create drawings on cave walls.
Most of the children got their hands straight into the mud and used their fingers to draw onto paper, others covered their whole hands and made muddy handprints. Some children used sticks as a mark making tool, which helps them to develop control and skill over mark making equipment. There was also some interest in bringing the small world dinosaurs into our play, which encouraged lots of dinosaur stomping and squelching in the mud!
The activity promoted lots of talk about the look and texture of the mud, and lots of imagination as the dinosaurs chased each other and rolled around in the mud. One child was reminded of the story We’re going on a bear hunt, by Michael Rosen, and talked about the “thick oozy mud ... squelch, squelch”.
The use of mud inside turned into a very entertaining activity!
Lucy