Mud kitchens!

[amyp]

http://abcdoes.typepad.com/abc-does-...ts-a-must.html

This one is beautiful x

[ja-lula-belli]

Nice ! I in the process of creating mine. Or should I say instructing my husband how to make one! Lol

[sing-low]

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

Go on, Mouse, be brave! Maybe it would help to think of it as an outdoor messy play area rather than a mud kitchen per se. We want our resources to be open-ended, don't we?!?! So much easier to clean up outside rather than in.

[Mouse]

Go on, Mouse, be brave! Maybe it would help to think of it as an outdoor messy play area rather than a mud kitchen per se. We want our resources to be open-ended, don't we?!?! So much easier to clean up outside rather than in.

In fairness, I do already have 2 plastic Little Tikes kitchens outside & the children use sand, water, pasta, rice etc on those. And they do use clean compost in the messy tables or tuff spot, but more for digging and planting. Maybe I just need to encourage them to combine the two!

Most of our resources indoors are wooden or fabric, but I do like plastic outside as it is easy to hose down & can stay out in the rain

[JKL]

I'm loving all these ideas. I was trying to decide what to do with an area of my garden which is next to the barked play area but a bit of dead space tbh, think we may have a new challenge for my dad! (DH is not particularly handy! )

Now to think up lots of lovely mucky activities!

[blue bear]

Since we moved her (2001) we have always had mud, big holes, time team style mass digging of the garden, plastic elc kitchen to cook mud pies, mud area with diggers. We have a reasonable sized garden and three boys so mud always just seemed to happen. It does travel around the garden but I think it's just getting higher as the grass grows through.

We have recently we I say we, I held the screws and made coffee, a wooden kitchen come potting bench with a kitchen sink donated through Facebook. The children missed the plastic elc kitchen so that is back, they like the sink for Walter play more than the mud itself, they really like mixing up mud in the wheeled buckets and wheelbarrow so they can transport it. The potting bench has been a real hit, potting up plastic flowers and watering them.

I don't think people should feel pushed Into having a mud kitchen because it appears to be the trend. If you are not sure start put with a little bag of soil a board on a couple of bricks a pan and a wooden spoon, see how things go, what the children get put of it, how you cope with the mess. A small kitchen like this is easy to put away at weekends and can many things, from a soap factory, to a potting shed, icecream parlour (shaving foam) the list is endless.

[Mcgons]

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

Here are some after pictures.

I've had mine for a few years and it's really basic, just upturned milk crates and chopping boards and sometimes the plastic garden table, and a whole load of old kitchen bits picked up from family and car boots, but the children love it. The rain just washes all the mud away, or I use the hose in summer.

IMG_05821.jpg107.JPGIMG_0583.JPG

[rickysmiths]

I don't get the need for mud 'kitchens'. The children can have fun and get messy planting things and growing things in the garden. Kitchens should be clean and tidy places why are we teaching them to use mud and have the messy?

This is a recent craze and all I see is a lot of money being spent by childminders who were offering a perfectly good experiences without all this mud! I know we all learn new things and ways of doing things but this is one I will not be offering. The parents have to do something after all.

[Rick]

I don't get the need for mud 'kitchens'. The children can have fun and get messy planting things and growing things in the garden. Kitchens should be clean and tidy places why are we teaching them to use mud and have the messy?

This is a recent craze and all I see is a lot of money being spent by childminders who were offering a perfectly good experiences without all this mud! I know we all learn new things and ways of doing things but this is one I will not be offering. The parents have to do something after all.

Well mine is made out of recycled wood (otherwise going to be taken to the tip) and it doesn't look like a kitchen (partly because my woodwork skills are near zero). It's just a table where they can pour dry soil through collinders and tip it between cups.

If they got constantly caked in mud I would rethink it as a good idea

[Mcgons]

I don't get the need for mud 'kitchens'. The children can have fun and get messy planting things and growing things in the garden. Kitchens should be clean and tidy places why are we teaching them to use mud and have the messy? This is a recent craze and all I see is a lot of money being spent by childminders who were offering a perfectly good experiences without all this mud! I know we all learn new things and ways of doing things but this is one I will not be offering. The parents have to do something after all.

I was inspired to set my mud area up from on a conference I attended in 2010 and following that by reading Jan White's blog on natural outdoor play, she is a big advocate of playing with mud and the learning and development it offers. However like many practices in the early years, it isn't the only way to get natural play experiences so I agree that it isn't for everyone, it just appealed to me because I used to like it as a child, and my own children spend a lot of time making concoctions in the garden, and this has enhanced that.

Also if people are spending too much then that defeats the object of it really. The idea is to use items that are found or donated, like the milk crates I was given and most of the old kitchen utensils. I only bought the kettle from a car boot for 50p, hardly breaking the bank!

[rickysmiths]

I do see what you are saying but I went to my local cm group and they had found someone to make Mud Kitchens and he was charging £45 plus £25 shipping which I personally think is a lot, I wouldn't dream of paying that when they can play in the garden with the mud for free with a free cheap or free props provided and have the same experiences.

[FussyElmo]

I do see what you are saying but I went to my local cm group and they had found someone to make Mud Kitchens and he was charging £45 plus £25 shipping which I personally think is a lot, I wouldn't dream of paying that when they can play in the garden with the mud for free with a free cheap or free props provided and have the same experiences.

That cheap ypu haven't seen the one that was advertised for £600

Mud Kitchen | Timotay Playground Design and Equipment

[Rick]

That cheap ypu haven't seen the one that was advertised for £600

Mud Kitchen | Timotay Playground Design and Equipment

That just happens to my DS in the pic at the expo last year

[Mcgons]

I do see what you are saying but I went to my local cm group and they had found someone to make Mud Kitchens and he was charging £45 plus £25 shipping which I personally think is a lot, I wouldn't dream of paying that when they can play in the garden with the mud for free with a free cheap or free props provided and have the same experiences.

I agree, it's daft paying for one in my opinion! And that one for £600, well if anyone pays for one of those they have more money than sense! Personally I don't see the need for it to be a 'kitchen' unless like Rick's he has made one with recycled wood, and the other poster with the pallets. Just a sturdy surface, bowls, utensils, mud, water and imagination needed!

[danemi1]

Attachment 8261Attachment 8262

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.

Looks really wonderful

[danemi1]

That cheap ypu haven't seen the one that was advertised for £600

Mud Kitchen | Timotay Playground Design and Equipment

YIKES!!!! That's a lot!!