Mud kitchens!

[primula]

Has anyone built a mud kitchen? I have two wooden pallets that I thought might do the job! Anyone have any tips or Do's and Dont's?! thanks.

[alwaysright]

i;m intersted in this as well, how do i follow this post?

[natlou82]

I've no advice but want to jump on the band wagon lol ;-p

[amanda preece]

Look on the imagination tree website it has pictures on of kitchens, I believe that there is a clip on you tube about building a mud kitchen from a pallet too x

[FloraDora]

image.jpgimage.jpg

I uploaded these on another thread but here they are again.
I took inspiration from another thread and my DH made me this.
I wanted it long to fit in a certain place and so that I can put a long black planting tray on for the children to plant up their flowerpot farm (also intend to use it as a bar for grown up summer bbcues's)
He has made them for a couple of nurseries too, can make to order any size ( I have a plastic bowl but we have since sourced metal ones which the nurseries have had.)

I don't really intend to just have it as a mud kitchen, this week we are making flower perfume and soap.
I like the idea that the LO's have an outside kitchen area to be messy with whatever they like: I also have a pantry nearly finished where we will store collected shingle, leaves, petals, bark,soil,stones and slate pieces collected from the garden. ( our ingredients) I like the fact that it is not bright and colourful, but naturalish - it matches our fences and veg planters.
My minlaw has donated pans and the parents are looking for other utensils we can use, so hopefully the LO's will arrive all excited to use it ( they have watched it being made and helped stain it last week).
The play will just come from them I hope, but any activity ideas would be welcome.

[alwaysright]

image.jpgimage.jpg

I uploaded these on another thread but here they are again.
I took inspiration from another thread and my DH made me this.
I wanted it long to fit in a certain place and so that I can put a long black planting tray on for the children to plant up their flowerpot farm (also intend to use it as a bar for grown up summer bbcues's)
He has made them for a couple of nurseries too, can make to order any size ( I have a plastic bowl but we have since sourced metal ones which the nurseries have had.)

I don't really intend to just have it as a mud kitchen, this week we are making flower perfume and soap.
I like the idea that the LO's have an outside kitchen area to be messy with whatever they like: I also have a pantry nearly finished where we will store collected shingle, leaves, petals, bark,soil,stones and slate pieces collected from the garden. ( our ingredients) I like the fact that it is not bright and colourful, but naturalish - it matches our fences and veg planters.
My minlaw has donated pans and the parents are looking for other utensils we can use, so hopefully the LO's will arrive all excited to use it ( they have watched it being made and helped stain it last week).
The play will just come from them I hope, but activity ideas would be welcome.

was thinking this was very clean and new looking! thats really good and sure the kids will love that!

[primula]

image.jpgimage.jpg

I uploaded these on another thread but here they are again.
I took inspiration from another thread and my DH made me this.
I wanted it long to fit in a certain place and so that I can put a long black planting tray on for the children to plant up their flowerpot farm (also intend to use it as a bar for grown up summer bbcues's)
He has made them for a couple of nurseries too, can make to order any size ( I have a plastic bowl but we have since sourced metal ones which the nurseries have had.)

I don't really intend to just have it as a mud kitchen, this week we are making flower perfume and soap.
I like the idea that the LO's have an outside kitchen area to be messy with whatever they like: I also have a pantry nearly finished where we will store collected shingle, leaves, petals, bark,soil,stones and slate pieces collected from the garden. ( our ingredients) I like the fact that it is not bright and colourful, but naturalish - it matches our fences and veg planters.
My minlaw has donated pans and the parents are looking for other utensils we can use, so hopefully the LO's will arrive all excited to use it ( they have watched it being made and helped stain it last week).
The play will just come from them I hope, but activity ideas would be welcome.

That's more or less what I had in mind! thank you for sharing!!

[natlou82]

That looks fab, I want to play! Thanks for the share :-) xx

[amylouise867]

Looks absolutely brilliant!!

High 5 to you!!!

What fun you're all going to have xx

[Mouse]

Has anyone built a mud kitchen? I have two wooden pallets that I thought might do the job! Anyone have any tips or Do's and Dont's?! thanks.

Just don't!

[primula]

Just don't!

I know what you mean!! I am going to site it as far away from the backdoor as possible! I hope they will use it! I am going to work on hubby to give me a hand over Easter!!

[kats]

I was dead set against having one but i gave in and to be honest the children if all ages absolutely love it, it cost nothing to make my hubby did it out if an old bench that we had

[loocyloo]

I've got a nest of 3 coffee tables that we use and I have everything stored in plastic boxes but need to ask dh very nicely to put a baton and hooks on back fence ... He won't be keen though!

[Rick]

I'm rubbish at woodwork but even I managed to make one out of 2 old bunny hutches. It's a bit rough around the edges but who cares

The children don't get too messy as I keep the soil in old pots and pans on the shelf below to keep it dry. We went to the woods to find other objects we could use with the mud kitchen too. I have located it in a mud area so any mud overflow just goes into the mud anyway

[Mouse]

I have a mental block and just cannot bring myself to set up a mud kitchen

I have seen loads of pictures of beautifully set out mud kitchens, while they are clean, but have yet to see a picture of one in use. They look so good before the children get to them, but before being convinced that I should get one, I need plenty of "after" pictures to see for myself what the actual damage is

[Rick]

I have a mental block and just cannot bring myself to set up a mud kitchen

I have seen loads of pictures of beautifully set out mud kitchens, while they are clean, but have yet to see a picture of one in use. They look so good before the children get to them, but before being convinced that I should get one, I need plenty of "after" pictures to see for myself what the actual damage is

As I say I keep the soil/mud dry when not in use and they pour it between pots and put other natural objects in with it.

Type mud kitchen into google and select the 'images' tab. Lots of examples. Primula, some made out of wooden pallettes for inspiration!

[Polly2]

There is a brilliant free booklet here Mud Kitchens loads of ideas

[Mouse]

Despite my reluctance, I am coming around to the idea

When I was about 6 or 7 my friend & I built our own mud kitchen in her back garden. We used bricks & bits of wood for the kitchen itself, then pinched pans, spoons & knives from home. We used to spend hours there 'cooking' and loved nothing better than digging up some of her dad's veg to chop up & add to our muddy mixtures. We even added in the odd worm

[Bluebell]

ha ha - if you want a picture of a muddy mud kitchen I can get one for you!! Mine is a disgrace!

If you like something that cleans up then maybe a mud kitchen is not for you! but depending on your garden and what you use it is probably easy enough to hose down / wash down at the end of the day.

I have a concrete garden so my white concrete is now black and my water tray has been moved (by the children) to the mud kitchen area. the water is now black and filled with mud and leaves etc (yuck) my sand pit is also filled with mud and water and looks disgusting.

They take gravel from the top of my garden to put in their mixtures and because I have a mud kitchen but no ground to take it from (ie my garden is gravel and concrete) I have a storage box with a lid that keeps a pile of composting earth in (hence why my garden is black rather brown from the mud)

I am rather laid back about the whole thing and the children LOVE it. My own children LOVE it. All childcare professionals that have seen it love it but when I look at it through the eyes of a visitor or parent I do cringe a bit. My garden is a MESS.

I used a small cupboard bought from the tip and an old plastic kitchen I had (a tesco one I think) which has a hob and an oven. I thought about getting an old microwave to go out there too as it has that really satisfying 'clunk' as you shut it. I also got some plastic saucepans and some real saucepans out there, wooden spoons, tongs, etc etc

My hubby had a fit when he saw the saucepans out there as he thought they were our best saucepans but actually I'd picked some up from a charity shop!!

I did tidy my garden up once - I swept and scrubbed and hosed down and I power hosed the concrete so it was all white again - I had a visit the next day - can't remember what for - audit or assessment or something. Anyway it was dark by the time I finished and my son went out and started making mud pies and made a right mess - and I got really corss cos I'd spent so long scrubbing it all - and I was stressed about the visit. and I realised I was losing it and it was really unfair to get cross with my son - he knows they can make what they want and make as much mess as they want so to not know I'd 'changed the rules' was really unfair. After that I let them make as much mess as they want and don't worry too much about the state of my garden!

What I'm saying is if you value your garden it may not be the best bet. I have a friend who loves muddy walks and so on but won't have a mud kitchen because it will ruin the grass and she is in rented accomodation.

It is by far and away the best resource in my garden. They use it for all sorts of imaginings and role play and sensory experiences and keeps them occupied for ages!

[primula]

2014-03-28 16.09.28.jpg This is the area that I have planned to put it, garden is 'L' shaped and the kitchen will go at the bottom, so we cant see it when us grown ups are having our much needed glass of pinot!
I plan to extend the paving a bit and use the little wooden shed too, might try two levels as I have a 14mth old walking and she will not be left out!! the grass in my garden isn't that brilliant anyway, so not to bothered about that at the moment, may change my mind!