“I like mud
I like it on my toes
I like it on my fingers
I like it on my nose
Dirt’s pretty horrible, but mud’s the stuff
I like mud”
Kids and dirt, or more precisely, kids and soil, have long been a perfect match. The connection could almost be described as instinctual. Regardless of differences in culture, language, and ethnicity, regardless of whether a child is born on a small farm or a sprawling metropolis, one thing remains constant: children love playing in soil. While the exact reasons underlying children’s fascination with soil remain open to debate, it is in many ways a moot point because the connection between healthy soil and healthy children is irrefutable,” writes E. Britt Moore in “Kids and Soil: A Perfect Match” (Exchange, May/June 2017).
“A child who does something as deceptively unremarkable as making a mud pie is engaging in tactile scientific learning that differentiates soil physical properties and correlates soil water properties to soil texture. If the prior statement seems exaggerated, then take a moment to think about how often a child will adjust the water-to-soil ratio in a mud pie until she finds the perfect balance. What is that if not the scientific process of experimentation, trial, and error at work?”
