YOUNGSTERS from across East Renfrewshire celebrated International Mud Day at Rouken Glen Park.

Greenbank Nursery’s Woodland Play team organised the fun initiative on Saturday, with children and their families embracing the muddy side of life as they cooked up some mud pies in the pop-up Mud Kitchen and got creative with mud painting.

Speaking to the Barrhead News, Rouken Glen’s activity ranger Katy McGregor said: “The event was run by Greenbank Nursery and we supported them.

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“It went really well – the kids had a mud kitchen, a mud slide and mud target practice, which they seemed to really enjoy.

“I would say we had around 300 to 400 people coming along throughout the day and it was a free event for them to attend.

“I think that this event highlighted the importance of natural play for the children taking part, using natural materials.

“It was definitely good from an educational point of view because it’s all about getting dirty and not really minding.

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“Sometimes, children these days aren’t allowed to get completely mucky, so it was good for them to get involved in free, natural play time.”

International Mud Day was first launched in 2009, to shake off modern restrictions, changing the instruction ‘don’t get too dirty’ to a more positive ‘get dirty’ message in a bid to help children form a deeper connection to the natural world.

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