30+ Fun Activities for Kids to Play in the Dirt

As I’ve shared on previous posts, I’ve got a thing for dirt…I love the way it smells, the way it feels, and all it represents. And if you’ve ever been on RYGblog before, I hope that you’ve noticed that I love my girls from my head to my toes…and that I have a passion for the outdoors. So, yea…I get a bit irked when I see dirt on the white rug in either of their rooms…knowing that I have to pull out the carpet cleaner again(!)…but I would do it daily (well…maybe not) if it meant that they had been outside playing in the dirt.

So when I came across a blog post on Hands on :  as we grow titled 30+ Fun Activities for Kids to Play in the Dirt!, I just had to share it with you.  I’ll highlight the 3 activities that resonated most with me, but I’d encourage you to check out the entire post.  To do that, just click on the link above or the image below.

Here are my favorites, in no particular order…

Mud Painting: Just as it suggests…painting with, well…mud.  All it entails is getting a bucket of dirt, putting some water in it, whooshing it around with a paint brush…and then going to town on a canvas or board.  So if you have a budding young artist, this would be a great activity for your future van Gogh.

Digging for Worms: Growing up, my dad and I would typically buy night crawlers before we went fishing…but if we could find some good old juicy worms at home, our fishing adventure was made that much better.  I don’t fish as much anymore, but having both a vegetable garden and chickens…we love our worms here at Scott Family Farms.  So what better way to put our worms to work where we want them than by having a little fun while searching for them. Besides that, it’s the perfect time to talk about the critical role worms play in your yard…when you have them squirming in your hands!

The Classic Mud Pie:  If your kid has ever spent any time outside, you probably have been served your fair share of mud pie. All it takes is a little bit of dirt, water, and some good ole’ kid imagination.  And then it’s made even better when mom or dad is there to get a serving fresh out of the oven. Even today, with Brown inching to the far side of tween-dom, it’s not unusual for me to find mud pies or mud plates and bowls drying out in the sun after she’s spent the day outside.

There are other great “dirt activities” included on the Hands on :  as we grow post that I believe provide even greater practical and educational value – like composting and vegetable gardening, but these 3 were the ones I found most fun.  So check out the rest of the post for yourself and let me know what think…or better yet, share some fun activities you and your kids have enjoyed.

By the way, if you haven’t already been to Hands on :  as we grow…and you have young kids, I’d highly recommend that you go there now. Although I’m not a mom…I am a parent, so I can completely get behind their mission:

Being hands on with your kids is a simple task that I am on a mission to get all moms to do. It’s simply carving out time for your kids to focus on them each and every day. Whether you do it by playing with them, reading to them, or doing an activity like we do! It’s all hands on and I applaud it all!

This is so what RYGblog is all about…and it’s great to see others out there encouraging, equipping, and motivating parents to focus on the all-important responsibility of loving and growing their kids on all levels.  And personally, I don’t think there’s a better place to do that than outside at home.  So kudos to Jamie Reimer, Hands on :  as we grow’s creator & author, for all she’s doing for all of us parents!

Take care all,