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Making mud pies and digging in sand are not just fun activities — they are essential to children's development, said a national outdoor play expert. Children are invited to get dirty at nature play areas in Bethesda and Wheaton created to cater to a child's wonder of the outdoors.

The county's park department has been working to help reverse the trend from outdoor play, by strategies such as moving educational programs into the environment, said David Vismara, the department's No Child Left Inside coordinator.

"It's a natural way of learning. It allows kids to develop their imagination," Vismara said.

One venture is natural playgrounds, where children interact with and explore the natural environment. Natural play areas are popular with children and help their development, said Joan Almon, executive director of the U.S. Alliance for Childhood.

The Locust Grove Nature Center in Bethesda and the Brookside Nature Center in Wheaton opened play areas 18 months ago, Vismara said.

The areas — a big hit with children and families — include mud puddles, climbing trees, hollowed logs, stumps, bridges and sand pits where children can explore and enjoy unstructured play.

"We're trying to get people to think differently about playgrounds," Vismara said. The department wants more natural playgrounds, he said.

The Locust Grove natural playground was built in a space created by two trees that fell and it has increased visits to the nature center, said program and facility manager Scilla Taylor.

It has wooden sculptures and logs to climb on and buckets of loose materials such as toy trucks and digging implements to play with, she said.

Structured programming includes stories around the fire pit and mud pie contests.

"Essentially it's an enclosed area where parents can feel safe to let their kids play outside," said Taylor, who said she saw more children playing with wood chips than playground equipment on a recent visit to another park.

Most of the cost of such playgrounds is labor because the "equipment" is taken from the surrounding environment, Vismara said.

Unstructured outdoor play teaches children to work together, resolve conflicts and challenge each other and themselves, Almon said.It also promotes cognitive, emotional, social and intellectual development, she said.

However, children are spending less time playing outside in nature, an activity that helps them relax and cope with anxiety and depression.

"Kids are under more stress than they used to be and we've taken away play, which is a great stress reducer," Almon said during a presentation at Planning Board headquarters in Silver Spring on June 3.

The proposed federal No Child Left Inside Act, which would provide funding for environmental education in public schools, was introduced by U.S. Rep John Sarbanes (D-Dist. 3) of Towson last year and is in subcommittee.

Gov. Martin O'Malley established the Maryland Partnership for Children in Nature in 2008 to create an environmental literacy plan for Maryland students, a proposed requirement for No Child Left Inside, and increase opportunities for outdoor play and learning.

"The whole No Child Left Inside concept is new to a lot of people but it's what we've been doing for years," Vismara said. "We've been doing this stuff all along. We have a huge amount of acreage available sunup to sundown where people can play in a safe place."