Mud Prints: Animals, Feet and Handprints

The boys have been loving their dirt patch. Henry keeps talking about making mud and turning it to dirt and the other way around, not fully understanding it I don’t think.

So I thought, what better way to show him what mud is exactly than making it!

We turned the dirt patch into a mud patch for the morning.

We brought out some of our animals to play with and make tracks in the mud.

I set out a piece of cardboard as well to make mud prints on.

I don’t think our mud was the right consistancy, because it barely worked. But it was fun trying. I was hoping for some guessing games of what animal made what tracks, but we mostly had blobs of mud on the cardboard. So, they just played and had fun with mud.

George was into it at the beginning. And was right in the mud with Henry.

Then his sandal got stuck in the mud and he wouldn’t go back in after that. Wouldn’t touch it at all. Oh well. I can’t blame him. His father wasn’t too happy about our mud patch either.

Henry on the other hand got such a kick out of it. He played and played.

Making hand prints and foot prints in the mud and on the cardboard. He used his loader to dig and scoop trenches and make dams to stop the water. [I had to constantly use the hose to keep adding water to keep it as mud. Our ground has been so incredibly dry this year.]

Henry also checked out what else we had around the area to see what prints they would make. 

And then it moved onto mud painting for a little bit.

Our dirt patch is on a hill. And it got slippery! Very slippery. Henry slipped and slid trying to climb up it. Over and over.

Such a great, muddy morning. 

Cleaned up with the hose and the boys were ready for lunch.

Find lots of Mud & Dirt Activities to continue playing in the mud!

Making animal prints in mud, or paint, would be a great activity extension to any animal themed book. This week’s Readathon theme is Animals!

The books that are available to check out free at MeMeTales for the Readathon are:

The Five Little Ducklings See more at memetales

The Donkey and the Wolf See more at memetales

Henry is 4 years old. George is 20 months old.