Just a thought about mud 'kitchens'
So, I've be thinking about sorting out the garden for spring and summer. I currently have a sand tray in one corner (on the old shed base) and a child size plastic table near some drawers with buckets, spades, chalk, balls, skipping ropes etc on the patio, diagonally across the garden from the sand. On the lawn in between I have a little tykes cube/slide. The children have access to compost in a couple of pots. My mind drifted towards the idea of a mud kitchen- moving the various pots, buckets, spades, spoons etc in to one area, providing the mud and calling it a mud kitchen.. Then I watched the children who were playing in my garden......
They were pretending to be Evie and her frog (from Mike the Knight) working in Evie's spell workshop. They were collecting fallen leaves, petals, bits of herbs, grass etc putting them into bucket, adding compost and then driving in the car (the climbing frame) to the beach (the sand tray) and carrying sand back across the garden a spoonful at a time, adding water and mixing it all together. The older child was then drawing and writing in her spell book (a note book).
It dawned on me that if I had set up a mud kitchen area then:
- less physical activity would have happened
-the play may have been limited to kitchen tasks due to the label of 'kitchen'
-the younger child, who is very big in to transporting at the moment, may not have participated for as long
I just want to share and find out what sort of changes to outdoor play having a 'mud kitchen' makes and any thoughts you have. :)