Muddy Play - Fun Play

DD1 and DD2 spend lot of time in play. They play under sun. They play in rain. They play with sand, grass, red soil, twigs, leaves, shells and whatever they get their hands upon.


They come back home and have a clean shower. They know what is edible and what is not edible. They understand that when sliding sand with fingers from a height, there is a probability that it gets into our eyes due to the breeze.



Their pretend play consists of all the above things.

They even climb up sand mountain, stones hill (those kept at construction site). 19 mo DD2 has an achievement-feel when she climbs up the stones/sand mountain with few slips on the way.

And recently, DD1 also did this.

After her play in the muddy pool of water, when we were walking back home, people asked us if she had mistakenly fell down into muddy puddle for which the reply was 'She didn't fall in it, she just played in it'.

I have had many weird looks at me when my children play in sand. Like 'You just left them there?', 'You always leave them free?', 'It may cause some harm' and many such.

I would simply say 'Let them play'. For me, I feel this is the most natural way to play. She senses the sand running between her fingers. She feels the different texture of the muddy water against her skin. She analyses stuff regarding matter. She mixes things of different colours and observes the new colour that is formed. There is a whole lot of thinking that is going on in her play and I would not want to stop it. She notices that wet things stick to our skin and dry ones don't. She reasons out that she would herself wash her hair with shampoo if need be and yes, she does, all by herself.

Free play is the most imaginative play. Let children play. There's is a whole world of learning going on in their mind in play.