Dirt is Good

A list for young children has been published to boost development and encourage children to spend more time playing outdoors. 33 activities were compiled by UK experts on behavior, development, parents and personalities. Nearly 1,000 adults were polled for the list which forms part of Persil's Dirt Is Good campaign to encourage children to exercise. The campaign was created to communicate the Persil brand's philosophy that children should be given the freedom to be creative – which leads to their learning and development – without worrying about getting dirty. Although it’s founded in the UK, I have to say I love the theory! (click dots in left corner for more information).

Goal: 33 things to do by age 10:
1. Roll on your side down a grassy bank. 2. Make a mud pie 3. Make your own modelling dough mixture 4. Collect frogspawn 5. Make perfume from flower petals 6. Grow cress on a windowsill 7. Make a papier-mache mask 8. Build a sandcastle 9. Climb a tree 10. Make a den in the garden 11. Make a painting using your hand and feet 12. Organise your own teddy bears' picnic 13. Have your face painted 14. Bury a friend in the sand 15. Make some bread16. Make snow angels 17. Create a clay sculpture 18. Take part in a scavenger hunt 19. Camp out in the garden 20. Bake a cake 21. Feed a farm animal 22. Pick some strawberries 23. Play Pooh sticks 24. Recognise five different bird species 25. Find some worms 26. Ride a bike through a muddy puddle 27. Make and fly a kite 28. Plant a tree 29. Build a nest out of grass and twigs 30. Find 10 different leaves in the park 31. Grow vegetables 32. Make breakfast in bed for your parents 33. Make a mini assault course in your garden

I fondly remember a few more from my own childhood: flying paper airplanes; building a treehouse; digging an underground fort; collecting lightening bugs in a jar; chalking on the sidewalks; body-surfing; skipping rocks on a pond contests; building a snowman/fort; finding ring-neck snakes under rocks.....

It's sad that our world has created safety issues with sending kids outdoors (unsupervised). It's also sad that we've come to rely on the TV as entertainment for a child when there are so many worth-while experiences to be had outdoors. Hmnn... I want to go play!