More than 100 children played in the mud Friday morning, June 29, at the future site of Scotty’s Garden Nature Explore outdoor classroom. The site is east of the Nemaha County Courthouse.

Slipping and sliding in the mud, making mud pies, mud painting and mud art were among the activities at the inaugural International Mud Day.
The event was a kickoff for the outdoor classroom, said Kim Beger of the Scotty’s Garden Nature Explore planning team. A freewill offering was collected to help start fundraising, she said.
Several Auburn volunteer firefighters helped with the Mud Day, Beger said. They were: Chief Randy Bennett, Jason Hemmingsen, Andy Behrends and James Paschal.
She said that the committee will try to expand the event next year. That will include adult activities, she said.
Upcoming plans for Scotty’s Garden Nature Explore classroom will include moving dirt in, grading the lot and marking the classroom out, Beger said.

Workdays will be scheduled for volunteers to help fill the classroom, she said.
New Scotty’s Garden Nature Explore planning team members are Terry Fulton, project manager; and Lisa Boss and Jodi Wright, fundraising co-chairs.
The outdoor classroom will include a green space, nature activities and gardens. The intent is to help connect children with nature and help them spend more time outdoors. The outdoor classroom will be for all ages. It will be within walking distance of several preschools, day care centers and Calvert Elementary School.
International Mud Day is a program of the World Forum Nature Action Collaboration For Children. The mission of the collaboration is to reconnect children with the natural world by making developmentally appropriate nature education a sustaining and enriching part of the daily lives of children internationally. Children and early childhood professionals internationally celebrated nature, the outdoors and mess. Mud Day started in Nepal, north of India in central Asia.