14 Fun Activities for Dirt-Loving Boys – And Girls!

Do Your Kids Love Dirt? Mine Do!

I let go of the dream of always-clean laundry and pretty pristine kids long ago.  I think it was around the time that my oldest was a toddler and gravitated to all things dirt, mud, and puddles.  And I’ve since learned that getting dirty is actually good for them, too!

“When we let our kids play in dirt we’re not only allowing them to explore the wonders around them, we are also exposing them to healthy bacteria, parasites, and viruses that will inevitably create a much stronger immune system!” via the National Wildlife Foundation

So, inspired by B-Inspired Mama sponsor, Bobs & LoLo, and their new album Dirty Feet, I thought I’d gather up some fun activities that my kids – and all kids who love getting “close” to the Earth – will love.  Let’s check ’em out…

14 Fun Activities for Kids Who Love DIRT

1. Do Some Gardening – Have a kid who likes to play in the dirt?  Put her to work in the garden!  You’ll get a garden helper and she’ll get great sensory benefits while having fun growing her own food, too.
2. Grow Plants Indoors – Don’t forget that you can garden indoors, too!  Plant seedlings in egg shells in the Spring or let your kiddo help repot indoor plants.
3. Have a Mud Sensory Play Playdate – Fill up a sand and water table with some good dirt and invite over some friends!  Keep it simple and let the kids get dirty.  Check out this article for inspiration and cleanup tips.
4. Or Host a Mud Pie Making Playdate – Add some inexpensive baking tools and pans and you’ve got a mud pie making playdate.  Just don’t let the kids eat the pies!  Let them help make this yummy mud pie for snack instead.
5. Learn with Real Worms – What dirt-loving kid doesn’t also love worms?  Check out this article for ways to encourage learning – from kids books to science experiments – about and with worms.
6. Play with A Pretend Worm Sensory Bin – If your kiddo is squeemish about real worms, set up this dirt filled sensory bin with fake worms!
7. Have Them Help with Yard Work – This might not be the case with all kids, but my kids love to help around the yard.  They feel acomplished to be helping and get dirty in the process!  And again, it’s great for the sensory system, too!
8. Make Cloud Dough – Cloud dough might be a cleaner alternative to dirt for indoor sensory play.  Try this 3 ingredient taste safe recipe or our Egyptian-inspired cloud dough.
9. Play with Clean Mud – This sensory material doesn’t really feel like dirt, but it is called MUD.  I bet your little dirt-fan will love it based on that alone!  Here’s a recipe to make some and inspiration for how to play and learn with it, too.  If you have a little one that likes to put things in their mouth, try this taste-safe recipe.
10. Make Some Dirt Dough – Make this dirty version of homemade playdough for the kids to squish and play with indoors.
11. Set Up a Muddy Dino Wash – Let some “mud” dry on some toy dinosaurs overnight and let the kids scrub ’em outside the next day.  Check out this article for dino wash inspiration!
12. Build a Dirt Volcano – Set up the classic volcano experiment, but do it outside with a dirt volcano.
13. Paint with Mud Paint – Encourage creativity by mixing up some muddy paint for your kiddo to paint with!
14. Use Mud for Target (and Math!) Practice – Set up a chalk-drawn target for some fun and messy target practice.  Plus it doubles as math practice, too!

Play Some Bobs & LoLo During Your Dirt Fun, Too!

Bobs & LoLo are a musical duo dedicated to connecting kids to their natural world through music, movement and make-believe.

They recently sent us their new album, Dirty Feet, and the kids are loving it.  It’s full of fun songs about nature and animals – two subjects that my kiddos adore.  Here’s a fun video of their title track, Dirty Feet…

Perfect for playing during that messy dirt play, right?  Along with the title track, my kids love the song, Move Like An Animal…

I wanna move like an animal
Swinging through the trees
I wanna move like an animal
Jumping through the leaves
Come on let’s go outside
Take these feet for a ride
You can move like an animal with me

To purchase the Dirty Feet album for your kiddos, go here: CD or online download.  And make sure to follow along with the musical fun by liking Bobs & LoLo on Facebook.  You can even find information about their North American tour there if you’d like to see them in person!

 So what is your kids’ favorite dirty activities?  Have you ever done any of the above activities?  Join the conversation in the comments below!

More Messy Fun from B-Inspired Mama:

    

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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Bobs & LoLo.  This post may contain affiliate links.  Please see my disclosure policy.