Children and adults alike enjoyed playing in the mud even though they were indoors during the Mud Play Day at Alexander Findley Community Library.

FINDLEY LAKE — The Alexander Findley Community Library staff has been working hard to get kids outside as part of the 1,000 Hours Outside Program, but Mother Nature keeps thwarting their plans.

The latest attempt to take part in the 1,000 hour challenge was a Mud Play Day, scheduled for March 29. Children were going to make mud pies and mud art, and construct stars out of twigs and yarn. They were instructed to “dress in clothing or rain gear that can get messy.”

But nature had other plans. “It was pouring and then it stopped, and then it was pouring again, and then it stopped,” said library manager Cala Glatz. “I don’t mind playing in the rain, but I thought some of our children were too young to get soaked.”

So, they moved the activity and the mud inside. Glatz mixed up a batch of mud in a basin and participants filled their pie pans, then they were free to add colored glass rocks and all sorts of little critters to their creations, including spiders, snakes, dinosaurs, horses and even an octopus. “The plastic animals clean up well,” said Glatz.

The idea for using the animals was necessitated by the long winter, Glatz said. “I was hoping there would be some pretty flowers up already and almost nothing is up yet, so the plastic animals were our second choice,” she said.

Most of the youngsters didn’t seem to mind being indoors, and even when their mud pies were complete, they continued to play or read for some time afterward. “I give this a 10 out of 10,” said 5-year-old Jackson who attends all of the 1,000 hour challenge activities. “I like being in the library and they always have good snacks.”

Snacks are an important part of all the library activities geared towards children. “I’ve got a few very generous patrons who like to provide us with snacks,” Glatz said.

Glatz, who believes a library is not a place for total quiet, said she plans activities which will encourage kids to make noise and to make a mess. This year she decided to again implement the 1,000-hour challenge for children and their families.

This is part of a national movement called “1,000 Hours Outside,” which encourages families to spend approximately 1,000 hours outdoors each year. The goal of the challenge is to have children match nature time with screen time.

Glatz, who hopes nature will be more cooperative than it was for the scheduled February and March activities, said she plans to have an outdoor activity on the last Saturday of each month, and the outdoor events will continue throughout the year. “Now that they have fixed up the amphitheater (on the nature trail), we can use that more,” she said. ” I also hope to do something with the butterfly garden.”

Glatz said the idea for a Mud Play Day came about simply by thinking like a child. “It’s just spring,” she said. “There’s rainy weather and it makes you think of mud, and who does not like to play in the mud?”

Glatz said mud helps connect us to the earth. “I think we are instinctively drawn to it,” she said, “It’s called grounding. You go out and walk around barefoot or play in the mud or take a walk in the woods. It makes you feel better and connects you to the world around you.”

The next 1,000 Hours Outside event coincides with Earth Day. On Saturday, April 26, there will be an Earth Day celebration and “plant-stravaganza’ for both children and adults.

Participants will have the opportunity to plant seeds in little pots to take home, select some seeds to start at home, check out books on Earth Day, enter a drawing to win prizes, and see the different stages of development of sprouted seeds.