Marvelous Mud

This article by Education Programs Coordinator Carly Baumann was originally posted on Kidoinfo.

A favorite childhood summer activity, my sisters and I used to spend hot days filling a little green plastic pool from the backyard hose to keep cool. But so much of the fun was what was happening outside the pool; we loved to splash the water straight to the ground, making muddy puddles. I remember how sun-warmed and sensational the mud felt on my bare feet, creating suction as I pulled them up and down. A Children’s Museum colleague shared an accidental mud discovery she made with a group of preschool children. Playing with a homemade slip-and-slide on a hill, children were just as drawn to the mud they made in the process, noticing the fascinating downhill rivulets being formed as the water and soil met, the kids changing the directions of the paths.

Despite its sometimes dirty reputation, mud stands strong with sand and water as an excellent open-ended play element for children to explore, allowing them to shape their environment while engaging their senses. Dirt and water can come together in endless combinations for mixing and molding, giving kids permission to dig in, experiment and make mistakes because of the endless supply. At the Museum, we’ve celebrated mucking around with mud using lots of topsoil, water and inspiring materials. Children used old kitchen pans and utensils to roll and form mud pies, each one uniquely constructed and adorned with toppings like gravel, dry beans and sprinkles of sand – some artfully arranged, others piled just for the experience of it. While most kids darted straight to the mud pit and other activities, not everyone was without hesitation. We loved how one mom pushed through her doubts, shook her head with a smile and said, “Why not go for it?”

When we asked Museum visitors to respond to the question, “What ways do you play with dirt and mud?,” they shared ideas from “make a restaurant that serves mud” to forming mud balls and muddy face paint. Mud play can be a messy, full-body outdoor experience but it’s also an art medium to explore indoors. We mix mud and sand for a gritty, spreadable texture, perfect for painting and stamping on paper with brushes with natural materials. Connecting with dirt and mud – basic elements of the earth – in different ways is wondrous, creative and just plain natural!

Celebrate International Mud Day on June 29! And dig in for some messy hands-on fun at the Museum during Mud Play programs on June 25 and 26. Also take home inspiration for outdoor play with the “Play in the Dirt!” kit in the Museum Gift Shop, packed with hands-on activities compiled by the Museum’s play specialists.

Inspiring Outdoor Play Spaces

This article by the Museum's Early Childhood Programs Coordinator, Mary Scott Hackman, was originally posted on Kidoinfo.

“In childhood play, it is a safe assumption that kids need more than a two-dimensional screen to gain competency.  Children need free, hands-on play that is kid-organized, to maximize their potential.  Nothing lights up a child’s brain like play.” – Stuart Brown, M.D., founder of the National Institute for Play

Years ago, I attended a workshop given by an architect of children’s spaces.  One remark that struck me that day and lingers still was, “Next to food, the element that is essential to the health and well-being of our children is light.”  I remember thinking, “Well, we should close down all childcare centers housed in basements!”  And now I think it’s just another reason to advocate for getting our children out of doors and into the natural light of day.

Rhonda Clements, Manhattanville College faculty member and advocate for children’s outdoor play, did a study where she interviewed children ages 5 - 12.  She cited this response from one youngster when asked whether he preferred indoor or outdoor play: “ I don’t like playing outdoors because there aren’t any outlets to plug a computer into.”

When I was a child, when the season allowed, we played outside all the time. One of my favorite play memories is when, after a rainstorm, the kids in the neighborhood gathered where two yards joined.  One yard was at the top of a hill, the other at the bottom.  We started at the top, got a running start, and careened down a stream of mud into the next yard, winding up in a huge puddle.  It took a bit of courage the first time, then nobody hesitated – we just all lined up again and again.  In fact, it was almost as much fun watching as it was taking your turn!

Things are admittedly different today.  Kids have more competing for their attention.  But given a bit of encouragement and a few props, a fun, free, magical experience in the outdoors awaits them.  So what do they need?  A wooden spoon or stick to tap out a rhythm on pieces of wood or stone.  A cardboard box with a hole cut in the side for a door.  Or better yet, discovering an opening in the base of a globe of vines or a forsythia bush for a secret get-away space.

My current guru on outdoor play is Rusty Keeler, founder and designer of Planet Earth Playscapes, who suggests that, “well-arranged plants for children can become playhouses, hideouts, castles…”  One idea you might try is to scatter sunflowers in the shape of a square.  Think about it, a living fortress of looming sunflowers.  Intriguing for the children, a veritable feast for the birds and a grand, natural play space all for a few pennies.

When considering an outdoor play space for your kids and your neighbors’ kids, think about these things: freedom, opportunities for risk-taking, natural materials, a water source, ropes, things to dig with.  Oh, and no adults!

Yes, that’s right.  No adults.  Kids need unstructured, unsupervised hours of time outdoors where there are no rules (except for the ones they create…and recreate!).  No one telling them what’s what, so they have to negotiate with one another and figure it out.

Let’s think of outdoor play spaces where kids create – they create the things they play with, they create the rules they play by.

Play in the Dirt!

Things have gotten pretty messy at the Museum lately, in a most wonderful way. We see kids digging and playing and poking and crawling out in our Children’s Garden. They’ve built and painted with sticks, stones and other natural materials. And a few weeks ago, during a special weekend Dig In! program, they sifted through soil in search of buried treasures, made mud paintings, and cooked up some magnificent mud pies – several of which were so intricately decorated that they hardly look like mud!


And recently, on our Talk Back board in Play Power, visitors have shared some creative ways they like to “muck around”:
Families can also take home some delightfully messy hands-on fun from the Museum Gift Shop. Our play specialists developed “Play in the Dirt!” kits, full of imaginative ways to dig in the dirt and mess around with mud, plus look for fossil and mineral excavation kits; tools to help you build your own worm or ant farm; and gear that will enhance any bug safari or outdoor exploration. Also check our calendar for more upcoming fun!

Nature Art!

This post was contributed by AmeriCorps Museum Educator Gina Sparacino.

“This looks like a tree. And this is a tree!”
“Hey look—I can write my name with a stick!”
“Can I make another one? ‘Cause this is fun!
“Know what I made? Let me tell you. It’s a dragon!”

These are just a few of the exuberant sound bites heard at last week’s program “Painting with Natural Things.” The activity was the latest installment in the summer Nature Art series taking place every Friday in July and August from 10:00 AM - Noon.

The series, inspired by our new outdoor exhibits in The Children’s Garden, was designed by Early Childhood Program Developer Mary Scott Hackman and AmeriCorps member Kerrie Hoban. Together, they revisited some tried-and-true past programs, explored nature activity books, and gained inspiration from the great outdoors to come up with a fun curriculum of creative nature projects.

Week one was devoted to “Painting with Natural Dyes.” Radishes, beets, tea, turmeric, cabbages and blueberries were heated in water in to create beautiful, brilliant hues for children to explore artistically. Kids were instantly drawn to the vibrant colors and surprised to learn how their “paint” had been made. “A lot of kids didn’t know what a beet or a radish was,” shared Kerrie. “It was cool to show them new foods. It made the food more powerful for them to use in the art, which was neat.”

Many visitors saw the activity as both an artistic and scientific endeavor. One child in particular stayed for a large portion of the program, continually altering his canvas by layering food dyes and making observations about the subsequent color changes that occurred. Overall, the event was a hit!
Equally successful was the recent “Printing with Natural Items” program. In week one, the tools (sponge brushes) were synthetic and the medium was natural. For the second week, this idea was turned on its head—children produced artwork using regular black paint (with a healthy helping of dish soap added for easier clean-up!) in combination with “paintbrushes” found in nature.
Visitors experimented with different strokes and texture possibilities using pinecones, feathers, twigs and bark strips. A father took care creating an intricate tree design while his enthusiastic daughter completed four original paintings. A camp group had a ball making all kinds of art—and especially appreciated the chance to get a little messy! Our youngest visitors enjoyed the tactile sensation of the natural items. One three-year-old little girl sat for about 45 minutes using every tool we offered to cover her entire piece of paper with thick, black paint. Her mother commented that she had never seen her daughter sit that long doing one activity. Amazingly, the secret for engaging toddlers and children of all ages doesn’t have to involve a great deal of money or labor—just a short stroll outside and a little imagination!
Be sure to check out future Nature Art programs each Friday morning through August – click here for details. And afterwards, maybe you’ll be inspired to try these activities at home!

The Finishing Touches...

Whoa, we are SO close to ready for kids to come play in The Climber and Underland when we open our new garden play spaces on Friday!

Here’s a look at the last week’s action:

Chris (exhibit designer) moved the musical sculpture he and his crew handcrafted from wood and other natural materials into Underland. It’s really beautiful!
They also installed this cool worm ceiling – giant, backlit rubber worms! –
which Carly (exhibit developer) and Janice (executive director) admired.
Carly installed cases of skulls, rocks and other objects found underground
and Chris and crew member Zach nestled our clay critters into their burrows.
The critters are the creations of local sculptor Marly Rogers – my favorite is the adorable star-nosed mole!After some serious cave cleaning, we set up the hand-carved Underland furniture and natural materials in the underground kitchen.
And outside the “cave,” the mastodon was installed in the sand pit,
where Hillel gave it a bath and a beautiful paint job!
Masons built a stone wall around the mastodon and then the pit was filled with sand, ready for kids to come with tools and do some excavating. (Staff had to play, of course!) Stay tuned for more about the creation of the mastodon.
Staff and AmeriCorps members tended to the rest of The Children’s Garden to get it ready for visitors. James (building manager) power washed all surfaces
while Mary (early childhood program developer) added some new native plants.
Oh, right, The Climber is complete! Staff scrambled through for a preview
And then we had kids here to test it and Underland and they had an absolute blast!
Check out the action here:



Wondering “how in the heck did they DO that?” Find out in this time-lapse video that details the installation of The Climber - see the whole thing built and crawling with kids in less than 2 minutes!



So we’re almost ready for you - come play with us on Friday!

Forest Stories

This post was contributed by AmeriCorps members Turenne Beauvais, Annie Blazejack and Jess Fields, creators of the new Forest Stories display in the Museum’s atrium walkway. They interviewed one another about their inspiration and process.

What materials did you use? Where did they come from?
A: We took a trip to Moonstone Beach and Trustom Pond in South County to collect natural materials; it was mid winter so we found lots of stones and dried plants.
J: Our original focus was on natural materials, but as we became immersed in our storyline we decided to craft more and more.
T: The boat in the water scene is made from bark stripped off a dead tree; the banjo in the singing scene is a carved almond.

What was your relationship to nature as a child? Do these boxes relate to your own childhood memories?
T: I grew up in an urban area but there were play spaces in my neighborhood like a park, an open lot, or the schoolyard. I also spent a lot of time at the beach and on my dad’s boat –I learned to sincerely appreciate the times when I could enjoy nature.
J: I spent a lot of time as a child stealing flowers from neighbor’s yards, making poison dirt potions, and digging intricate tunnels. The books “Children of the Forest” and “Peter in Blueberry Land” by Elsa Beskow played a large role in the way that I imagined these ramp boxes.

What is the goal of your ramp box exhibit?
A: We wanted these scenes to be open ended like everything else in the Museum. We wanted to create a beautiful space for kids to use their imaginations. The new Underland exhibit will open while the ramp boxes are on display. There, too, kids can imagine what it would be like to be super small and underground.
J: We called this series Forest Stories; while we made them, we had stories in mind, but we want children to create their own story lines. I think children exist in a world that is constantly playing with scale... I feel that children will view our ramp box characters as children like themselves.

Do you have a favorite box?
A: I love the scene in which a boy is playing his banjo and singing with two birds. I like the way they’re suspended in the box – with space all around them.
T: My favorite scene is the one with a little boy is reaching out and offering a pomegranate seed to a raccoon. He’s got red juice dripping down his face. He’s not afraid of this huge animal – he sees it as a friend, and he wants to share his treat.
J: I really love the scene in which a small boy is curled in the tail of a sleeping squirrel. They both look so peaceful and warm; it’s one of the few scenes where there’s no sense of action and time seems to stop.

How did you work together? Who made what?
T: First we built the children. We worked together, crafting them with wire and clay. I focused on landscapes for each box and very small details such as the banjo. Annie’s efforts were put into sketching our original visions and then creating the small woodland creatures from paper maché. Jess painted, worked with fabrics and textures, and drew the landscapes for the sides of each box.

What did you enjoy most about this process?
J: There was a kind of magic working with Annie to create the sketches. Even though we all worked separately on very different things, watching Annie articulate our thoughts confirmed that we all had a similar vision, and made the world that we were imagining very real.
T: I love that we didn’t ever divide up jobs– it just happened naturally. We each knew our own jobs, but we could help each other a lot because we were all in tune about what we wanted to make.
A: I love using paper maché; it’s wonderfully slimy.

How have kids talked about these stories?
T: A young girl mentioned that her favorite exhibit was Water Ways. I told her to check out the ramp boxes on her way downstairs. About an hour later, she told me that the ramp boxes were now her favorite part of the Museum!
J: A 2 year old pointed to the girl in the bee scene and say, “she’s scared.” We worked hard to make the facial expressions and posture of our characters just right, so it was nice to know it paid off.

Forest Stories will be on display into the fall – be sure to check it out next time you’re at the Museum and let us know which is your favorite box!