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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Looks amazing!! Perfectly timed this post as only today I was trying to figure out where do I start with making ours?! Love the little chalkboard 🙂
Thanks, I really enjoyed making this and putting everything together 🙂
This is my idea of hell but know my girls would adore it, I’ve pinned it thanks, Mich x #MondayPinningParty
This really is super cute… I know my girls would adore it! Now the question remains whether I am brave enough to give it a go!
Love it! There was a mud kitchen for kids at a play farm down the road from us but they got rid of it because too many mothers complained about their kids getting dirty!!!! Unbelieveable!!! I actually heard a mother say one day, “Come away from their darling -you’ll get dirty!” ?????
That’s so sad! I want my children to have messy fun 🙂
Oh I love this mud kitchen, my children would adore it!
Thanks for linking #LetKidsBeKids
Thanks, it’s proving really popular with everyone who comes round to our house!
They have a play kitchen, love to cook real food, but don’t have a mud kitchen. Been meaning to make one for them for ages. This has inspired me to get to it. Thank you. #LetKidsBeKids
That looks so cool and so much fun!! My girls would love that!!
Oh, boy! That looks like so much fun. My girls would be in heaven.
Thank you, my children have certainly been playing a lot more outside now we have one.
This looks like so much fun! Think I would like playing with it just as much as the kids!
Popping over from #LetKidsBeKids
This looks great and lots of fun! We’re just in the process of creating a mud kitchen for our daughter. So far we’ve sourced everything for free. Might have to buy a little blackboard for the Menu though as love this idea!
My kids would love this! Brilliant idea. Thanks for linking up to #mbpw
This is so great! I’m desperate to build my daughter a mud kitchen … this has spurred me on even more!
That is such a lovely idea 🙂
How lovely! This has given me great inspiration for our garden makeover!
Awesome mud kitchen idea for kids outdoor play. They can play and make a huge fun. At the same times, they can pretend that they are cooking all kind of dishes. This type of activities will help your kids a lot for improving their creativity and imagery thoughts when they just spend times in outside area. Thanks for sharing this idea. I just back in my childhood.