Make The Most Of Your Mud Kitchen - Play Ideas For Kids
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Make The Most Of Your Mud Kitchen - Play Ideas For Kids
Looking for the ultimate toy to spark your kid's imagination? Our mud kitchens have got you covered. These play kitchens introduce your little chefs to the wonders of cooking. With the main ingredients being mud and water, look out for mud pies and worm-filled pastries on the specials board.
Whether you have a large garden or a small shared space, we have some handy tips for making the most of your Mud Kitchen. Read below for our Mud Kitchen best practices guide.
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What is a Mud Kitchen?
Mud kitchens are an outdoor role-play toy where kids can take on the role of head chef and pretend to cook and bake. But, instead of using toy foods, kids can use real cooking and baking equipment like cake tins, spatulas and mixing bowls.
The big difference? The main ingredients are whatever your little ones can find in the garden. They mix and pile earthy materials to make everything muddy delicacies. Your kids can serve up their natural creations to their customers, or in most cases parents. A slide of mud-pie topped with creamed moss, anyone?…No one?
Our Mud Kitchens
Our pint-sized play kitchens are available in three different sizes, perfect to fit into any outdoor space. But they aren't just for the outdoor world! Our smaller-sized Single Mud Kitchen fits perfectly into any play area - bringing the cooking fun inside. Instead of the usual ingredients of mud and water, swap them for less messy alternatives such as Play-Doh, slime, pasta shells, rice ect.
There's a range of interactive features to make the cooking play come alive. With twisting oven knobs, working taps, big splash tubs and water dispensers - some even have slide-out sideboards, ovens and shelves to create extra play and storage space! Our Double and Triple Mud Kitchens have chalkboard areas so your kids can write down any daily specials.
When it comes to making muddy creations, it's going to get very messy. But don't worry; they are easy to wash down after the last mud pie is served.
Organising Mud Kitchens
With all that mud, water and other earthy elements as ingredients, it's guaranteed your mud kitchen is going to get very, very messy. Here are our simple tips to help keep your mud kitchen station clean and ready for playtime.
Storage Bins
With all that piling, mixing and baking comes a heap of muddy utensils, bowls and cooking equipment. You don't want to be cleaning up the fun as you go, so plan on having open storage bins that every muddy item can be put into. We recommend old laundry hampers - simply dump the muddy bits and pieces into the bins when done, then at clean-up time hose off the surface for a fresh start!
Hooks
With all these different utensils and kitchen tools, we recommend keeping them organised with simple hooks. You can hang the tools to dry for easy access, so there's no disruption to the cooking fun.
Service Table
Creating a makeshift service table lets your little ones expand their role-play imagination by letting them serve their muddy creations. We suggest a tables and chairs, or even some wooden stumps and a flag log for their customers can sit down on. Setting up a till or menu adds lets your little chefs create their very own restaurant!
Loose Parts
A fun mud kitchen is one that is well stocked, and not with flimsy plastic play kitchen items. I’m talking about real muffin tins, cookie trays and pots and pans. Don't forget the real kitchen tools like colanders, spatulas, and measuring cups too! These make cooking play more authentic and are more long-lasting so you won't have to replace pieces and parts as often.
Water Source
All of our mud kitchens come with a working tap and splash tub, so if you want the best mud kitchen you're going to need a water source. Simply fill up the water tank with either a hose or a bucket of water - then your mini chefs have got unlimited access to water during playtime.
This is a better alternative than having an authentic sink with its own water source, as the water output is completely controlled by the parents which leads to less water wastage over time. During a full afternoon of play, we only tend to refill the tank two or three times.
Mud Source
A mud kitchen isn't complete, you guessed it, without some mud. You're going to need a source of dirt that doesn't require digging up the garden beds. We recommend creating a dig pit within a section of the garden, with shovels so your kids can easily dig out some mud on their own. Make sure your dig pit is as close as possible to your play kitchen to keep the mud pies coming.
The Benefits of Mud Kitchen Play
In addition to being a whole load of fun, mud play is a sensory superpower, as kids can discover new textures, smells, and materials. Your mini-chefs can explore the natural world hands-on, mixing whatever they find in the garden into their recipes. Here are the top developmental benefits of mud play.
Happier Kids
Playing in nature is a big stress reliever for kids, and studies show it can even reduce anxiety. Digging into the mud with hands has been shown to release bacteria from the soil that has a positive effect on mental health.
Independence
While our kids can't go to the shops to buy flour and eggs on their own, they can forage in the garden to find their own ingredients. This lets them independently discover new objects, materials, textures and beings.
In real kitchens, our kids are always in close supervision around the hob and oven. But in their own play kitchens, the child is the chef in charge as they mix, pour and create their own muddy delicacies and recipes. This level of autonomy is great for encouraging independence and leadership skills.
Science Concepts
With working tap and splash tubs, playing with water turns them into tiny scientists. All that fun pouring, spilling, and measuring teaches them important scientific concepts such as volume and weight. Add some measuring jugs and weighing scales in your mud kitchen to further help them.
This also boosts their numeracy skills as it gives them things to count and measure, such as choosing the right ratio of mud and water for a tasty mud pie.
Gross Motor Skills
As with real cooking and baking, making up dishes in a mud kitchen gives kids tasks which can help develop fine and gross motor skills. Our mini chefs might use tools and utensils like jugs to collect, carry and pour water into a bowl, or whisks to mix up their mud pies. These actions are a fun way to help them develop their precision in making both small and large movements, as well as their hand-eye coordination.
Literacy Boost
Kids can read and write down their own recipes, as well as menus and daily specials on their mud kitchen chalkboards. This can exercise their word-reading skills and help them to form letters and express their ideas as they write them down for others to read.
