What is Mud between your Toes?
Once upon a time, the playground began at our front gates. Today, many children have little opportunity or freedom to roam, explore, play and learn outside.
Children are spending less and less time outside. Increasingly, their free time is spent on solitary activities indoors. For many children and young people, their only connection to the natural world is through television, film and computer games.
We want children and young people to be happy, healthy and fulfilled. In 2006, Eden Project created the 'Mud between your Toes' programme to help children and young people to re-connect to the world they live in - to experience, understand and celebrate their sense of place and purpose in the natural world and in their communities.
How?
- Creating opportunities for learning and play in the outdoors…
We aim to create fun, creative and inspirational experiences in outdoor places that inspire children and young people to want to get out more, and raise their confidence and skills for doing so. Working with children and young people, their families, schools, community groups, our activities link Eden Project to woods and wild pockets, beaches, parks, gardens, school grounds, the local community, home and classroom.
- Finding out what works best…
‘Mud’ is intended to be experimental and an opportunity to play with ideas. Our ability to track what we have done is vital. We need to find out which ideas work best and capture the value of the programme. Much of this is research is qualitative – through observation and discussion - a robust and innovative research programme is growing alongside Mud between your Toes.
- Making a splash and sharing…
Mud aims to delve into issues, develop new ideas and share these with whoever wants to hear.
- Working in Partnership.
We are not alone in our concern about Nature Deficit Disorder and the impact that this may have on young people, their families, their communities and the environment. We aim to work alongside schools, families, communities and partner organisations to share expertise, skills and approaches.
'Mud between your Toes' aims to connect children and young people to the world they live in - to experience, understand and celebrate their sense of place and purpose in the natural world and in their communities.
Eden is a charity and we need help to fund our work. Making a donation will enable more children and young people to take part in our Mud between your Toes programme.