The Gnome is the Elemental of earth. Protector and connector. I’m a bit of a Gnome (Just taller). Getting kids to connect to earth is easy. I just add water.
The following is a list of some pretty good reasons why I bring a big ol’ bucket of mud along to every session, and none of them are because I’m a sadistic mongrel, who loves to see teachers clean yards, or parents complain about their overworked washing machines.
One reason is to support children’s connection to nature.
If you want the children to grow up and be the custodians of Mother Earth, you don’t do it by reading them books on sustainable farming practices, or watching youtube clips on the deforestation of the Amazon. You do it through play. Specifically outdoor play in a natural environment. Richard Louv (last Child in the woods, 2005) found that children who don’t play in nature can develop Biophobia, which is a fear of Nature. They avoid the mess mud makes, they are repulsed by the smell and texture of soil and have a fear of potential pathogens that may be found in the soil. Once these patterns have been created in the brain they are carried throughout adulthood. I don’t want people who fear nature being future custodians of earth.
The infant brain is experience expectant. Straight out of the box their brain is set up ready to collect information and try and make sense of it all. They use all of their senses to do this. Human’s DNA was created when all we had was nature, and nature is the perfect space for young minds to learn in.
Mud is a sensory integrated endeavour. The tactile feel, the smell, the weight, the colour, and the smiling faces of those around you, all join up to become a beautiful memory. A positive brain synapses. When young brains engage with mud the seeds of nature connection are sown.
I bring mud to sites, to start them on the pathway to biophilia (the love of nature)
One of the most beneficial reasons I bring mud is the exposure to the natural microbiome.
So much science has found amazing connections between the microbiota found in natural soils, the Human microbiome, and the brain. Apparently, we are all joined at the hip (or Brain). Infants exposed to natural soils in the community develop microbiome full of beneficial critters. Here is a beautiful mud fact. Some of these microbiota stir up hormones in our bodies. Some of the hormones are ones linked to a sense of love, connection, and wellness. Robinson JM, et al (2025) found the microbiome of a formula fed baby that has had regular contact with natural dirt is on par with a breast feed baby. The best source of natural dirt isn’t that bag of bunnings sandpit dirt you bought, or that old bag of potting mix with added cow poo. Best source. Hit the bush. Muck about. Second choice. Bring as much of that dirty bush goodness to your site. That’s what I do! My mud comes from a big hole next to the Gawler river. I knew a fella who had a massive organic farm nearby. Good soil.
Another good reason I bring mud is, the latest neuro-science reckons its not a bad idea.
Evolutionary neuroscience has found that the human brain is hardwired to connect to nature, but if nature experiences are not offered at the formative years of birth to three years, then the brains nagging wife says (While waving her rolling pin venomously in the air) “Hey Harold! When are you gonna get rid of all those boxes of nature crap that you keep in the attic. You’ve never had to use them, and they’ve been there for nearly three years!”. Your brain actually deletes and prunes away, stuff that it has hardly ever used. It sort of thinks, “Hey I could use that space for something more important, like, thinking about who decided poo was to be a stinky smell?”
Another reason I bring mud is, you can’t do nature play without dirt. I know heaps of folks have sandpits, however in the dirt world, sand is seen as the ‘international roast coffee’, within the dirt hierarchy. The only non-sand dirt many kids find, is the off-limit spots such as the garden beds, pot plants, or a redback spider filled drain hole. My mud is sticky, smooth, and free of dog poo and broken beer bottles. It comes from the finest hole around.
Without dispute, nature play IS the way children make sense of their world.
Check out this hoard of observations of learning within, and through mud play here