“This trend must be stopped,” says project leader Marc Veekamp of IVN Nature Education, who is very pleased with the doubling of the number of participating locations compared with last year, when around 2,500 locations took part. “Playing outside, enjoying nature, is healthy in all kinds of ways: it is good for motor skills and helps prevent obesity, but it is also beneficial from a social and emotional perspective. It really makes children happier.”
With Mud Day, IVN wants to put the importance of free play in nature higher on the agenda. This can mean playing in a forest or park, but also simply on a green playground. Natural play areas encourage different, more active play. An increasing number of studies show that children who grow up in a greener environment have better mental health. Nevertheless, today’s children play outside six times less than their parents or grandparents did. Only 14 percent of children in the Netherlands between the ages of 6 and 12 play outside every day. More than half play indoors more often than outdoors, and three in ten children never or only once a week (or nearly never) play outside.
Also at home
IVN Nature Education has organized Mud Day since 2016. Putting on a mud mask, baking mud pies or simply having fun playing in the mud—it is all possible on that day. “We believe it is important to promote playing outdoors, but also specifically to allow children to get dirty. Mud practically encourages free play automatically. A puddle of water and a pile of sand alone can provide children with enormous enjoyment. They often quickly invent their own games; playing with mud stimulates their imagination,” Veekamp explains. “Many parents today drop their children off at daycare or school in nice clothes and do not want them to get dirty. No dirty clothes or sand in their hair, because that all causes hassle. We need to move away from that: getting dirty is healthy.” IVN therefore calls on all parents not only to embrace Mud Day every year, but also to let their children enjoy themselves freely at home.
International Mud Day
International ‘Mud Day’ originated in Nepal and Australia, based on the idea that children needed to come into greater contact with nature. The day is now celebrated every year on June 29 in countries including Denmark, Great Britain and the United States. In the Netherlands, Mud Day was organized for the first time in 2013.