ICG’s International Mud Day Celebration
June 20, 2026 | 10 am-1 pm
Join us at Ithaca Children’s Garden for one of our messiest and most beloved traditions: International Mud Day! This globally recognized event is a perfect opportunity for kids and families to immerse themselves in the joy of connecting with nature through mud. Last year, more than 1,000 gallons of water transformed ICG’s Hands-On Nature Anarchy Zone into a glorious muddy playground — and this year promises even more muddy fun. Kids and families are invited to jump, slide, splash, dig, create, and fully embrace the joy of getting dirty outdoors. Our muddy wonderland will feature mud pits, mud slides, mud art, mud painting, hands-on activities, and endless opportunities for imaginative play and exploration. Whether it’s your child’s first muddy adventure or your family’s annual tradition, International Mud Day is all about joyful connection — to nature, to community, and to the simple magic of play. Get messy. Make memories. Celebrate the wonder of mud with us! This program was made possible in part by a grant from the Tompkins County Tourism Program.
Cultural Connections
What is International Mud Day all about?
International Mud Day has its origin at the World Forum for Early Childhood Care and Education in Belfast when two members of the Nature Action Collaborative for Children, Gillian McAuliffe from Western Australia and Bishnu Bhatta from Nepal, worked together to overcome the challenges their communities faced in playing with mud.
Many of the children from orphanages Bishnu Bhatta worked with in Nepal didn’t have enough clothes to be able to get them dirty. Gillian McAulife shared this story with a class of 7 and 8 year old students at the school she directed in Australia and the class raised money to provide extra clothes to the kids in Nepal. On the same day that year, the children in Nepal and Australia celebrated with a day of muddy play, instigating a global day of nature celebration!
In 2012, the first International Mud Day Celebration in the Northeast of the US took place at the Hands-on-Nature Anarchy Zone in Ithaca Children’s Garden!
In Nepal, Mud Day marks the beginning of the rice-growing season. It is a celebration of the nature that provides the ideal place to plant rice, the commodity that will later sustain the community. Apart from sustaining the Garden’s children all year in the Hands-On-Nature Anarchy Zone, Ithaca Children’s Garden’s mud becomes a home for frogs, a bath for the birds, and the nutrients and support for lots of different plants in an ecological community. In 2013, rice was planted at Ithaca Children’s Garden as a gesture of unity with Nepal – a grain that used to grow wild along the banks of the Great Lakes where it was gathered by the ancestors of the members of the Seneca Nation.
Create a Muddy Play Space
Muddy play can be a joyous sensory experience. At Ithaca Children’s Garden we’re fortunate to have the Hands-on-Nature Anarchy Zone where mud pits are a usual sight. Bring some of that muddy play home by creating a muddy play space in your yard, or even inside.
This setup is ideal if you don’t have much space. Find a shady spot, roughly 4’x4’. A little smaller will work as well. Look for items you can recycle for your muddy play space.
Make a Clean Mud Sensory Bin
Looking for all the fun of mud play without the mud? Give clean “mud” a try. It’s just as fun to make as it is to play with!
This activity is best designed for 2-6 year olds with some supervision, while 7+ can potentially do this independently.
Mix Up Some Mud Paint
Mud paint makes rich and earthy shades of color. It’s easy to make and a great way to celebrate mud. You can paint paper, large sheets of fabric, or your body.