How to build a mud kitchen

A few weeks ago we made our children an outdoor kitchen or mud kitchen. It is quite a basic construction from some unwanted wood but that’s what I love about a mud kitchen – it can be as simple or elaborate as you want. My children love to spend time outdoors and it wasn’t hard to give them some more space, with some spare utensils, to have fun and learn outside.

We’ve wanted to make a mud kitchen for our children since we moved house 2 years ago. We managed to stockpile an old pallet and a few scaffolding boards from the loft, which we recently boarded, so were no longer needed.

Equipment needed to build a mud kitchen for outdoor play

wooden pallet
scaffolding planks
electric sander

How to build a mud kitchen for outdoor play

We didn’t want to spend much money on our mud kitchen so recycled existing materials where possible.  The idea behind it was simple and twofold. First – to create a working space at child height. Second – to give the children plenty of room to store and arrange their utensils, a surface to create, and space to carry out their stirring, mixing, pouring and creating!

We created a table and shelf from the scaffolding planks, and created a back from the wooden pallet. We sanded the whole thing to make sure there wouldn’t be any splinter accidents.

Our only purchase was a metal rail and cups from Ikea to provide more storage. I added a spare blackboard so the children could have fun writing a menu too.

The mud kitchen has really evolved since we built it and the children have been asking for different things to add to it. The milk bottle watering cans we made have been great for mixing water with soil to make lots of mud, which has meant more delicious mud cakes being made.

I’m glad we made the mud kitchen after talking about it for so long. It came together quite quickly and is so popular for very little effort. I’ve made a few further purchases, such as the mini cookware set from Ikea and donated some old bowls for washing up. I also whipped up some cheerful Duck Tape bunting flags.

The benefits of a mud kitchen are plenty. It encourages role play, gross motor skills with all that mixing and stirring, and creativity. There hasn’t been nearly enough muddy mess yet but I’m hoping my children will feel free to explore the potential messy play opportunities soon!

I can’t wait for more sunny days and lighter evenings to watch my children explore the endless possibilities with their mud kitchen.

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