A family member just sent me this video of a young deer having a blast playing in a mud puddle.  At least it certainly looks like the deer is having fun!

In my children’s TV work we’ve probably a dozen segments showing kids playing with mud and muddy water in different ways.  I call these “automatic” segments because it doesn’t take any effort to get kids to engage with the topic.  Just tell ’em what we’re doing and off they go. I love this interstitial showing three girls building a dam in a back yard.   Always a good sign when I want to do the activity!

When I was teaching preschool years ago we had a special “mud week” and had kids come in prepared to get seriously dirty.  I can’t wait for this Spring when my young daughter will be ready for some serious mud fun.

Educators, I highly recommend the book Worms, Shadows, and Whirlpools by Karen Worth and Sharon Grollman.