Mud as a valuable learning tool...

 

 

 

What treasures might lie buried in the mud?  I found this at very low

tide on a beach in the Scottish highlands…

 

 

 

I began a blog post about mud and why it’s a rich resource – and as I compile it, I realise that there is SO much I could say, that its best spread over a couple of blog posts…

 

It’s very soon International Mud Day.   I know loads of settings where mud is used wonderfully and seen as a brilliant resource.   There are some brilliant information packs and examples all over the web, such as:

 http://www.naturedetectives.org.uk/home.htm

 

http://www.muddyfaces.co.uk/

 

http://loveoutdoorplay.net/

 

http://creativestarlearning.blogspot.co.uk/

 

http://janwhitenaturalplay.wordpress.com/

 

http://www.mindstretchers.co.uk/

 

 

 

 

Mud can be many colours and textures…  and invites you to draw in it…

I really adore mud as a rich resource to work with – in so many ways.   Clay, soil, sand, compost – and all the many variations of earth are so versatile and yield amazing discoveries.   I’ve used mud in many projects over the years, with many age groups and by myself.   I worked with clay extensively on my art degree many years ago and loved all the various experimental – and elemental - processes this brings. 

 

 

With children I’ve been using clay in projects for many years and mostly now use this as an experimental and exploratory material, so it’s rarely fired.  But clay is also wonderful to fire and the process of changing it through heat is quite magical.   (Plus I’m rather addicted to the textures and colours of fired clay, the alchemy of it all is wonderful).   I adore “real clay” (rather than air-hardening clay which has lots of fibres added and is much harder to manipulate I think) and the different textures that can be explored through mixing clays with water and sand etc are gorgeous.   It’s a rich material for language development.

  

 

 

 

Clay is great inside – but clay and mud outside are even more amazing…   You can add endless loose parts / natural materials - and become lost in your own world as you create clay heads on tree trunks or fill a grassy nook with imaginary animals…

 

 

 

On our Discovery Garden at Dunkirk Primary and Nursery, one of the areas that is returned to over and over – by all year groups – is the mud pie and potion making area.   It’s a big space and often ends up with the equipment being taken to lots of different corners and nooks of the Garden as groups and individuals experiment with natural materials.   The resources are stored in a central space so the children always know where they are – but I think it’s the ability to take them to your own chosen space that also adds to the appeal.   Children will sit concentrating for long periods of time in one of the willow domes for example, or on top of the “mountains” (when you are young a small hill in a garden is a perfect mountain)...

 

 

I love observing the different spin on the resources that each group of children brings.   I’ve seen the same set of equipment being used to mix magic potions, make hot chocolate, mix mortar and build a wall, build a moon surface, make all sorts of food, make cement, make a giants cake, make “our own toys”, make ovens, create homes for birds and insects and so much more …   This has then led to the writing and illustrating of wonderful recipes, short films about mud, the recording of sounds and the creation of songs.   Its involved copious measuring, estimating, counting and huge observation of the changing states of materials.

 

 

We stoke our mud area with an assortment of loose parts such as metal pots and pans (sourced from charity shops, pound shops and commandeered from things destined to be thrown away etc), wooden spoons, vegetable mashers, ladles, rocks, logs, bricks, stones and pallets used as surfaces...

 

Its vital to have the long grass, the abundance of flowers such as daisies and dandelions (which its ok to pick and use) and a good supply of mud…   And also all the other spaces to retreat into as you experiment.    It’s also crucial to be able to be outside in all seasons.  Mud pies in the winter might freeze – which brings a totally new dimension to the summer when mud pies possibly dry out or warm up…

 

Really one of the key things in all of this is having an area to interact with natural materials without feeling rushed or squashed – and by doing so this brings opportunities for reflection and also observation.   Whilst discovering, for example, what happens when you mix dry mud with water you become lost in a world of textures and this takes you to a place where you are more alert to both noticing things and to thinking.

 

 

Who might live here…?   I’m always intrigued by little holes in

the woodland pathways… who has made a home here?

 

 

I’ve seen amazing discoveries about the properties of mud and grass and other natural materials.   A few days before we built the Cob Oven at Dunkirk a small girl presented me with an amazing solid ball of mud she had spent an hour creating.   It was a self-directed project and she’d worked really hard to get the mud to a certain consistency so that it would hold its shape; needless to say when she then came to work on the Cob Oven she knew exactly how to work the clay and sand into a wonderfully building material.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“The more you pay attention, the more beauty you’ll discover.  Mud is lovely and easy to work with… earth is the most common construction material on the planet.  For comfort, beauty, availability, ease of use, ecology and economy, it beats most other materials hands down…”     Kikko Denzer

More to follow…

 

Skye

 

Just back from a bit of an artists retreat time in Skye…  its one of my favourite places & somewhere I return to again & again, so much to be explored & discovered.   Am now trying to process everything I saw, noted, gathered and felt.    Lots to take on board and to explore further.  Very exciting & inspiring time.  The weather has been amazing, the wildlife wonderful & there really were stories under every stone…

 

I left thick snow behind in Derbyshire and I feel I found spring in Skye… But the temperature dropped a lot at night and left amazing ice and frost patterns waiting to be found each morning.

 

 

  

 

Many of the mountains had much snow on them, both on Skye and on my route up through the Scottish highlands. It was an incredibly amazing landscape – the patterns of bare trees against the backdrop of moorland and snowy mountains.   I found the layers of colours really rich and inspiring.   I’ve returned with hundreds of photos, sketch books full of images and a few found treasures to contemplate (teeny driftwood, sea-washed pottery and a little shell…).   The landscape was bursting with stories and hints at events and happenings.  

 

 

I’m hoping now to continue to explore all this – I’m itching to get out the paints again, the felt, the collage materials and the printing inks… 

Skye (and the Islands and Highlands) is a landscape that deeply inspires me; I’ve been returning there for several years and every time there are more and more layers to peel back, new things to find and familiar things take on new meanings.  Its stunning in all seasons - and maybe especially feels remote, wild and rugged outside of the busier summertime.

 

 

There’s something incredibly important and meditative about spending time in nature looking, listening, feeling and watching…  you notice so much if you tune yourself into it.  If you rush through a landscape you miss almost everything that could be there for you.   I think also being able to go for long walks in wild places brings the most special encounters – with nature but also with yourself.  That’s also why I adore the very early morning and dusk, they are quite magical times when the light and smells in the air are incredibly special. 

 

Encounters with nature come in all sorts of ways – but you have to be constantly placing yourself in situations where they might just happen.  I spent a lot of time in Skye watching for otters, amongst other creatures, and whilst I was eventually rewarded with the most wonderful long views of three otters – it’s the waiting and searching that has such an important set of emotions attached to it.  I love going for walks and finding signs of creatures which tell a story that you can only guess at parts of…  Knowing you have maybe just missed an otter (or any creature) is an amazing feeling – because there’s a sense of wider things happening around you and the promise of what might be around another corner.   It also makes me smile inwardly because wild creatures should be able to keep themselves safe and a step ahead of human activity really.  It also makes it all the more special when you do see wild animals.

 

  

I was incredibly inspired by the trees and woodland on Skye; I was exploring the part of the island that has old groves of birch, hazel, oak and alder.  They are twisted, bent, curled trees that I find really beautiful: their colours and textures are rich, they are covered in amazing lichens and the trees sit snuggled up to the rocks – gripping tight and winding their way up through the land in ways look almost impossible. 

 

There are also many remnants of human activity amidst the trees – standing stones, old huts, clearance villages… as well as new homes and signposts…  I love the stories found in the land and signs of past human activity can give rise to the ideas of tales and stories stretching back hundreds (even thousands) of years.    It’s important to maintain a connection with the past, whilst also looking forward; links with our ancestors should help us find our own place in the world.  I find the clearance villages particularly emotional places – they are set amongst this stunningly beautiful landscape and yet they tell stories that contain vast harshness and hardship. 

 

I also find that a landscape like Skye has so many wonderful small treasures to be found – but which could be overlooked.  There are these endless vast views of mountains, sea, lochs and other islands which stop you in your tracks; yet there are also the most beautiful teeny flowers, moss, lichens, tiny shells, little stones and details in the grains of sand…  It’s the combination of all of this that draws me there…

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

     

 

 

 

the possibilities in a grain of sand

Sand, like mud and water, holds endless opportunities for discovery.  Children (and adults) will explore it for hours - but, like mud and water, this needs an environment that is supportive of this kind of exploration.  I've always been fascinated by watching the ways people explore beaches - they make things, create worlds, jump, roll, dig and dig and dig, mix water with sand, hunt for treasure, run, lay down and contemplate, draw and write in the sand and so much more...  You can't do all this standing next to a small sand tray (especially if it is indoors and adults are worried about sand getting onto the floor).

We're really lucky at Dunkirk Primary to have two wonderful sand areas: there's a big sand pit in the main school playground surrounded by seating and plants; and in the foundation stage there's a really big sand area which can easily hold 30 children.  This area used to be tarmac and was re-designed by the children with the staff:  we visited lots of different places and together undertook loads of idea-generating activities to think about what we wanted.  There's a wide slide into the sand, which lets children slide down side by side.  There's pulleys and containers to lift up the sand.  There's logs of different sizes to sit on and move about.  And there are spades, rakes, buckets, pots and tools of many different sizes. 

It's an amazing space to watch the children learn.  As an adult you are able to really observe and watch the children's inventions and discoveries.    

"Digging in deep sand with a long-handled spade provides a whole-body immersion in the concepts being explored and is a richer experience than reaching into a sand tray using only hands and arms."

Learning Through Landscapes

In such a big area of sand, children can work alone or with others - and therefore their play is extended all the time as they notice what others are discovering.  Ideas can gather momentum and move between children.  They can dance and jump and make sand-angels, and sit in the sand; they can bury things and dig for treasure, they can add water (children MUST be able to add water to sand), they can make small worlds and they can imagine they are in a different land.