Why we're loving mud

Let’s face it - we’re entering the season of mud. For the next few months, any trips through the countryside (at least, here in the wetter west) will be accompanied by a fair amount of squelching, splashing and oozing, followed by boot scraping, hot drinks and a mud-removal session from incoming kids and footwear.

Glorious mud! (All photos: Sean Malyon)

To make the most of it, we’re including some fun, mud-based activities in the January-February issues of our youth magazines, which are what we’ve mainly been working on this week. 

To help us in our quest, we enlisted 7-year-old Floyd, his 2-year-old sister Martha and their mum, and sent them off into the local woods to see how much mess they could make create art and sculpture from what they found on the ground. 

Luckily, the day of the photoshoot wasn't too wet, and Floyd and Martha were very eager to get stuck in! Here they are in action…

Floyd created a mud face on a tree-trunk - we'll unveil the results in the next issue of Wild Times!

In my opinion, children growing up in today’s indoor-focused, post-industrial society are living a life that is very far from what nature intended. The social constraints, walls, pressure to succeed, and increasing disconnect from nature can cause all sorts of problems with emotional and mental wellbeing and development. And in fact, not just for children. 

While we cannot just return to the slower, pre-industrial way of life that we evolved for over countless millennia, we can mitigate. 

Getting kids outside – even on horrible, wet, murky and muddy days – does them a world of good. Letting them romp through the quagmires is like releasing a bird from a cage - and they can make all the noise and mess they want to!

Young Floyd and his sister certainly had a great time - and so did we. This was possibly our most fun photoshoot ever! Our younger readers will see the results in January’s issues of Wild Explorer and Wild Times. 

Upholding the ancient traditions of childhood, Martha enjoyed a good poke around in the forest. 

And, while the thought of my own mud-spattered kids dripping all over my house fills me with as much dread as any other mum, I’ll suppress the urge to shriek and fuss - because they’re only doing what kids do best: connecting with nature, exploring the world around them and perfecting the ancient and endangered art of childhood. 

Mud makes kids happy. You can build with it, paint with it, jump in it and wear it. Let’s all get outside and enjoy it!