Monday 17 June 2013

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:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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…
 

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