Artikel Dari Jenny Kable HERE THE LINK
Did you know that playing in the mud is beneficial to
children?
1. Playing in the mud
can make you happier.
Scientists have discovered something that children have
always known - playing in the mud can lift your mood. Recent studies have revealed that dirt
contains microsopic bacteria called Mycobacterium vaccae which increases the
levels of seratonin in our brains, helping to relax, soothe and calm.
2. Playing in the mud
connects you with nature.
If you never know something, it’s hard to care about it.
Many kids these days never know the outdoors beyond the school playground or
their own backyards, if they even have one. Getting kids outside to play (as a
place to act out make believe worlds and explore) creates happy memories with
the one most primal element in our world: nature.
3. Playing in the mud
can make you healthier.
Step away from the antibacterial hand wipes. Research has shown that playing in the dirt -
including very wet dirt - is good for a child's immune system.
“So let your child be a child. Dirt is good. If your child
isn’t coming in dirty every day, they’re not doing their job. They’re not
building their immunological army. So it’s terribly important.” - Mary Ruebush
is the author of Why Dirt Is Good: 5 Ways to Make Germs Your Friends
4. Playing in the mud
can make you smarter.
Throw away the flash cards and sent your child outside to
play instead. Studies have found that
playing in the dirt can make you smarter.
The same release of serotonin that occurs when playing in M. vaccae dirt
has also been shown to improve cognitive function.
5. Playing in the mud
helps children to learn and develop.
Sensory, hands-on play feeds children's brains. Listing all the ways playing with mud - a
delightfully sensory experience - can help children to learn and develop would
be a whole post in itself. So I'm going
to send you here for a thorough look at the value of sensory play.
6. Playing in the mud
helps develop positive dispositions.
Having an area outdoors set aside for mud play - a mud patch
or a mud pie kitchen for example - provides a space for children to retreat to
for some time alone in a soothing sensory experience or to play with peers
co-operating, communicating, negotiating and sharing.
7. Mud is a wonderful
art medium.
Mud can be moulded and decorated and it responds differently
than sand, clay or playdough. For ideas
hop on over to The Art of Mud from Artful Adventures.
8. Mud play welcomes
all comers.
Mud is an open ended material that meets the different needs
and interests of different children. A
younger child might be right into the sensory experience while older
preschoolers are busy making their own mud bricks. With mud, there is something for everyone.
9. Playing in the mud
encourages creative thinking.
Playing with open-ended materials like mud stimulate
creativity and imagination - things that are hard to jump start later in life.
10. Childhood
memories.
Think back to your own childhood. Do you have happy memories of playing outside
in the mud and the dirt? After all,
making mud pies is one of the iconic images of childhood. We are creating the experiences, the memories
and the childhoods of today's children.
What do we want them to remember?
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