Looking for a fun and creative activity to do with the kids this summer?

Where the Kids go Wild and Muddy Puddles bring you a guide to making a Mud Kitchen! Creative, interactive and hours of fun, see how easy they are to create here.

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Mud kitchens are increasingly becoming a must-have resource in nurseries, preschools and reception classes, and with good reason. They provide young children with an opportunity to get outside, get dirty and let their culinary creativity flow. The wonderful sensory experience of playing with mud within the structure of a role-play kitchen gives little ones a chance to explore, measure, mix, pour, chop, scoop and decorate. It allows for new vocabulary to develop and simple mathematical concepts to be explored.  A daunting prospect perhaps? Kitting out a new children's kitchen in the garden for it to be completely covered in mud? Fear not, for simplicity is the true beauty of the mud kitchen. Here's my guide to creating a really simple, but hugely enjoyable mud kitchen. Here are a few key tips:

• Set the mud kitchen up in an area with lots of work surface space for creating all those lovely muddy creations.
• If you have one an old table or dresser with doors can make a great 'cooker'.
• You could use two old tree trunk cut-offs that were lying around the garage to create a hob.
• For the kitchen equipment it's good to get a variety of different pots, pans, bowls and trays and buckets and trowels from the garden.

There's no need to spend lots of money. Practice those begging skills and see if friends or relatives have any old bits and pieces they could donate. High street discount shops are a great place to pick up cheap silicon trays and cupcake molds, which are perfect for covering in mud and water. Different and unusual kitchen utensils are great for inspiring children to be creative with the mud and extend their vocabulary. We had lots of mashing, crushing and smashing in this bowl. Of course you will need mud. Ordinary soil mixed with garden centre peat gives a good consistency. It is also important to have a water supply to mix with the mud. I purchased a camping water carrier with its own tap to put next to the kitchen. Dexter was able to turn the tap with a bit of help. A watering can always comes in handy too if a garden tap is not to hand!  Dexter and I really enjoy going on a mud kitchen scavenger hunt to source all the extra ingredients for our concoctions. A visit to a local park can produce lots of finds including:

• petals
• cones
• stones
• feathers
• sticks for mixing

Tip: We have herbs in our garden so I like to add these to the kitchen to provide an opportunity to smell all the different scents. So this is all you really need to start off your own mud kitchen. It can be as simple as our mud kitchen here or if you have the space. You can add shelving and hooks to store equipment or even tables and chairs to sit at. The mud kitchen can grow and develop over time as you acquire new pieces of equipment. It's great to see children exploring a mud kitchen. As parents we can support children's play by providing the rich vocabulary involved in the activity and encouraging the exploration of their ideas. Dexter decided to make a birthday cake with three candles, as he will turn three on his next birthday. We even blew out the candles.  

 

So get out there, get cooking and get muddy!

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