Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/docia-shares-a-story-developmentally-appropriate-experiences/5015096/
When I was a child, I spent countless hours playing with other children in and with mud. Mothers approved because it kept us busy. Little did they dream how much learning was taking place. To us it was fun; and as the kids could say today, "Cool."During World War II days when I worked in Lanham Act Centers, money was scarce and supplies were limited. Dirt and water were plentiful and readily available, so much worked its way into the activity program. The children loved it; and to us it provided an opportunity for children to have a positive, constructive, nurturing, joyful, and what we call today "developmentally appropriate" experience.
With the increasing stream of materials available, mud has been replaced with dough, finger painting, clay, and so on. However, celebrating my 89th birthday making 100 mud cakes, pies, and cookies with my daughter, Ann, and our friend Jamie, aged seven, reminded me what a contribution mud can make to a child's learning and how enjoyable mud play can be. I'm all for having gooshy, squishy, gushy mud back in the curriculum.
Jamie was the chef and Ann and I were the helpers. It took quite some time to get everything assembled - ...