These mud kitchen ideas are guaranteed to give your kids hours of outdoor fun. And, getting stuck in with hands-on activities alongside a big dose of fresh air will be a welcome break from screens.
Whether your garden is big or small, rural or urban, it can become a treasure trove of finds. What's more, mud kitchen ideas help children to connect with nature and learn life-long skills.
They don't require tons of expensive equipment or unsightly toys either. In fact, the simpler the offering, the more imaginative the play becomes. A few basic containers for mixing, a hidden pathway through bushes, and some mud, leaves and soil can be all you need to keep little ones occupied, and they'll provide some great memory-making moments as well.
1. Use Dry Materials
Sure, a bit of mud can be fun and all. But sometimes, it's nice to avoid it – especially when there's quite enough laundry to do already. But lack of mud definitely doesn't equal lack of fun.
Some ideas combine colourful toy fruit and veggies, felt flowers, brown crinkled paper, chocolate-flavoured cereal, lego, buttons, pegs and the list goes on... Almost anything can be used to make to a gorgeous Mud Kitchen set-up.
2. Make Mud Muffins
Get kids in the mood to bake – mud muffins that is. Grab an old muffin tray (you can often find them for very cheap second hand) and make a game of mixing up pretend cake batter with dirt, water, and maybe some torn up leaves for 'seasoning'.
Encourage kids to decorate their creations with petals and stones for a pretty topping, and they'll soon look good enough to eat (but make sure they don't).
3. Add Bubbles To The Mix
Bubbles are bound to bring delight to, let's face it, pretty much anyone (pets included). But little ones will especially love watching them float into the sky, or jumping to try and pop as many as possible.
So why not add a dose of bubbly fun to their mud kitchen creations? It could be as simple as adding some washing up liquid to a bucket of water. But, you can also buy inexpensive tubes of bubble liquid with a wand included for them to blow.
