Emeryville mudflat sculptures for kids
The Mud Zoo Art Show. A true story near Oakland, CA, told for kids 6-8.
Read along
Look out the window toward the bay! See that flat, squishy mud? A long time ago, it was an art show with a mud floor! People built sculptures out there using junk and driftwood that washed up on the shore.
Stuff nobody wanted became art! Nobody ever found out who the artists were. They were secret! The first sculptures showed up in 1962, and cars on the Bay Bridge road could see them while driving by.
Some looked like a funny mud zoo, with odd creatures standing in the muck. No ticket, no museum, and the floor was squishy mud! Today the mud is a protected home for wildlife, so the last sculptures were taken away in 1997. Now see if you can spot the flat, muddy shore and the marshy plants out there.
Quiz the back seat
What were the mudflat sculptures mostly made from?
Show the answer
Junk and driftwood from the shore. Junk and driftwood! The artists used what washed up right there on the shore. Not one snowball!
3 fun facts
- The Emeryville mudflat sculptures were first built in 1962.
- They were made from found objects like driftwood.
- The last ones were removed in 1997.
For grown-ups
Written with AI from public sources, then checked claim by claim against the sources below before it was published; stories that don't pass stay off the app and this site. Narration is pre-recorded, and nothing you do on this page is tied to your kids.
Sources
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Town and county names: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0).