Mudscapes as a method: Co-creating climate pedagogies through muddy play and more-than-human relations

Abstract

Current Euro-Western, developmentalist early childhood education frameworks prioritize individual, future-oriented, and measurable outcomes, limiting the relational engagements necessary for effective climate pedagogy. In response, this paper introduces Mudscapes, a practice-based workshop designed to engage pre-service teachers and educators in embodied, sensory encounters with mud. Drawing on Lowenfeld’s World Technique and Common Worlds pedagogies, this inquiry conceptualizes small-world muddy play as "worlding" - an ongoing relational becoming with human and more-than-human entities. Methodologically, this paper adopts an a/r/tographic and autotheoretical approach to reflect on facilitator practice, spatial curation, and material agency rather than human-subject empirical evaluations. Findings from autoethnographic journaling and spatial curation logs demonstrate how intentionally designing for uncertainty disrupts desires for control, cleanliness, and predetermined learning outcomes. By framing improvisation and material friction as core pedagogical practices, Mudscapes illustrates how practice-based educator workshops can cultivate the capacities required to navigate shared worlds in an era of climate crisis.