Mudscapes

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We work with students on an land planning activity called “Mudscapes” at water festivals all over the state. see also Mudscapes Activity Walk Through Article 2005

Kids use 50+ gallons of mud and “props” to create an ideal watershed community. We section of “neighborhoods”and get them talking about & planning where to put homes, schools, wildlife areas, farms, roads, etc… We have plastic animals, wooden buildings, toy cars, colored sponges and scrubbies for crop land, popsicle sticks and straws (for septic systems :), etc… After they’ve made up their ideal community they’ve got a chance to talk about how they made decisions & why.

It’s a high maintenance project. In the course of an average season the props get washed around 75 times - that’s alot for a little plastic cow or wooden block building. They literally fall apart after a few months. We use snap top plastic containers to store the mud but they start cracking after a year or so of being loaded and unloaded. We use topsoil to make the “mud”.

Over time it gets pretty nasty and has to be replaced. Typically we only have 25 minutes with each group. It takes a team of people working tightly together to keep the activity flowing and the materials prepped for incoming groups. There’s no down time between sessions so as soon as students finish tne portion of the activity someone steps in and preps it for the next group. It’s not uncommon for one team member to be wrapping up a group while another team member is starting a new group and a third team member is cleaning up the wash station.

We’ve found that keeping it moving at a tight clip is actually better than giving students more time to work the mud table. After about 10 minutes 4th graders slip into play mode. Older students can stay with it a little longer but they get frustrated with prop limitations.

(DRAFT) Misc. observations:

Space - We’ve found that we need at least 5 kids at a table to stimulate a thoughtful dialoug. If they have too much space there’s not enough tension to engage land planning. But, if there’s not enough space students get hung up on “property” lines. Outgoing students dominate the space and it becomes an exercise in prop hoarding.

Communications -

Props - Their ideal watershed is framed by the props we provide. If we provide props that are too far removed from their life experience then they slip into play mode.

Sub-conscious ideals -

Evaluations & Efficacy -

* What have students included in their watershed community
* Community infrastructure awareness

* What conservation practices have they incorporated in their landscape
* Active & passive Knowledge

* How do they organize themselves

* How do clusters of students interface across the broader watershed

* What does their mudscape tell us about ourselves