Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Fun with MUD!

For the start of summer vacation I thought we needed to do something good and messy!

We started by reading a few books:

We had to start with the classic "dirt" book, Harry the Dirty Dog.


Next we read "Dirt Boy." It's the story of Fister Farnello who, to escape his bath, runs away to the woods and meets "Dirt Man."


Diary of a Worm is a hysterical story told, in the form of diary entries, from the point of view of a worm. This was a family favorite!


Finally we read Mud. The beautiful illustrations show the world turning from snowy winter to the big, muddy mess of spring.

It's the last book that leads to our craft today - MUD painting!

I simply dug up some dirt from the yard and mixed it with water to make a nice muddy mixture. I gave the kids some paintbrushes and recycled cardboard to paint on and told them to have fun.

They quickly gave up on the paintbrushes and moved to using their hands.

While the finished pictures aren't something we'll frame, the process was fun, fun, fun! And I have to say, clean up wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. :)

Linking up to some of these great parties


23 comments:

RedTedArt said...

Ooooh how fun!!! Painting with DIRT! I love love love! And we love Harry the Dirty dog.. keep meaning to do a craft too!

Brimful Curiosities said...

Most of the time with kids the art is about the process I think! Painting with mud sounds like a ton of fun. And Harry the Dirty Dog is one of my all time favs.

Ticia said...

My kids would LOVE this!

Esther Asbury said...

What a creative/fun (not to mention dirty) idea! We loved the Diary of a Worm book when we checked it out of the library last year.

Kristi @ Creative Connections for Kids said...

This is awesome! Love the dirt, the books, and photos. Makes me want to play too. :)

Kristi @ Creative Connections for Kids said...

Hope it is okay if I pin this on Pinterest. Let me know if not. Thanks!!!
Kristi

Rose @ Walnut Acre said...

Harry the Dirty Dog is one of my favorite books too. The mud painting looks like fun.

Unknown said...

My mom read Harry to us when I was little. JDaniel would love this project.

Unknown said...

What a fun craft! I'll have to do this with my son. He's usually weary of messes, but if its fun enough, by the end he's saying "MESSY IS FUN!!" I might pair it with a "clean" week. We did a shaving cream snowscape this past winter that was really messy and fun, but smelled clean.. We could paint with colored shaving cream, which is messy, but yet clean in a way. Lol. Anyways, thanks for giving me a fantastic idea for a dirty week!

Kate @ An Everyday Story said...

J will just love this. He adores getting all kinds of messy :) And what perfect timing - did you know its international mud day next week? :)

Thanks for sharing with us.

Heather @ Camp Slop said...

I didn't even know there was an International Mud Day. :) Maybe we'll make mud pies to celebrate!

cathy @ NurtureStore said...

Oh, Harry was one of my favourites when I was young - and I'd forgetten about it. Thanks for the happy memory!

Annie Moffatt said...

LOVE this idea:)

Unknown said...

This is awesome idea and it never crossed my mind to do something like this! :) Featuring this post on this week's High paw :) Thanks for joining us!

Juliet Robertson said...

Lovely links between the books and the play. Oh and to keep your Harry the Dirty Dog book clean in the midst of it all, have a look at my blog post.. http://creativestarlearning.blogspot.com/2011/06/recycling-books-for-use-outdoors.html

LeeanneA said...

Looks like many of us love Harry the Dirty Dog - I do as well. It's funny but when we think of creative art for kids mud is probably the last thing we think of - this is awesome! Messy fun is the best!

urbane~ gardener said...

Love the mud play idea. We tried it and we loved it!! Thanks for the inspiration. I posted your link on my blog. Please check out the dirty fun that we had at:
http://gardeningurbane.blogspot.com
Leave a comment!!! Talk to you soon.

Jamie @ hands on : as we grow said...

Had to feature the muddy art in a roundup of muddy, dirty ways to play for International Mud Day.

catherine @ sunhatsandwellieboots said...

Great post & I love your book choices.

Laura said...

That is fantastic! I love that you incorporated books with it too. Thanks for sharing at art4littlehands.com Hope to see you back again tomorrow~

Unknown said...

This just looks like so much fun! Thanks for linking up to my Summer Fun party. I'm including your muddy painting in my Five Fun Ideas with Paint post.

http://cometogetherkids.blogspot.com/2011/07/five-fun-ideas-with-paint.html

Unknown said...

What a fun idea! I love that you incorporated the books into the activity. I will definitely have to try this activity out. My boys love messes and will LOVE this!

Unknown said...

This looks like such fun! My son loves mud. I love the books you chose too.

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