Natural ingredients with Coloured Water in the Mud Kitchen

Our Mud Kitchen is honestly the best and most used kids play thing in our house, no toy compares. If you're considering making a mud kitchen for your children or a preschool, don't feel as if it will be limited to Mud only and messy play, there are so many ways to play in an "Outdoor Kitchen".
Sometimes Dimples asks to go play in the Mud Kitchen but I don't feel like cleaning up muddy clothes so instead of allowing him to get really messy I give him some containers filled with coloured water (tap water and a drop of food colouring) & we go on a hunt for natural cooking ingredients.

This is just as fun as making mud pies but without the mess. Miss Cherub enjoys tinkering in the coloured water just as much as Dimples enjoys making rose tea and Sweet gum nut soup.
In the past we have done some pretty messy Mud play in this Outdoor Kitchen; A Mud Rally Box full of cars and diggers,   Process Painting with Mud & Making a Mud Brick House. If you missed it I have also done a Post on Eight Benefits of Playing in the Mud, however the coloured water was a nice change.

Before making some colourful concoctions, Dimples and I fill up his orange buckets from the Renovated Mud Kitchen with Natural ingredients. Gumnuts, flowers, seeds, twigs, flower buds, and little bits and pieces found in the yard in preparation for his cooking session. Then he creates some beautiful concoctions, mixing together the colours and 'cooking' them, or boiling the water first then adding natural ingredients to stir through.

This type of play is so fresh and calming, Dimples and Miss Cherub could do this for hours. Actually, come to think of it they play happily together for a long time which doesn't occur to this extent in any other play space.  There is something very tranquil about enjoying the sunlight coming through the trees on to the outdoor mud kitchen while the two kiddies play silently together with beautiful flowers and colourful water. They  look so at peace in the world; nothing else matters. 

Dimples & Miss Cherub explore the outdoor environment, search for natural ingredients, experiment with mixing colours, use great imaginations to create and cook up a serve, they role play as they cook and serve me fabulous looking dishes, they are also getting the social advantages of turn taking, sharing, cooperating and playing together. They are also getting hands on experience as they stir, pour, sift, transfer, mix, lift, empty and measure out the water and ingredients.

 

Learning concepts:

Benefits of being outdoors

Exploring Nature

Mixing Colours

Gross Motor - They're always moving as they lift, pour, mix, transfer, measure, stir etc.

Role Playing real life

Imaginative Play

Social Skills - cooperation, sharing, turn taking, collaborating, working together & helping one another.

Happy Adventures 

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Mud Kitchen Outdoor Play Renovation

Summer time in Australia means outside play for us, we are lucky to have a large double yard with some big shady trees to play under. 

Over a year ago we made this Magnificent Mud Kitchen which has been well and truly used, enjoyed and utilized in many ways which adds to the outdoor adventures but it was time to update and add some more elements. There are some new storage pots, a few jugs, his own toaster (our old one with cord cut off) and a spice rack with jars among other things. 

Here it is.....

 

I love to encourage Dimples to play outside, although he is such a movie/TV lover, i think if I put the TV or a movie on he would sit in front of the screen all day!  So most days the television stays OFF all day, and to avoid the question of  "can i watch a cartoon?" and encourage some active, imaginative and outdoor play we have been renovating (so to speak) Dimples outdoor Play space; We have been working on a music wall, a large sandpit, A PVC Pipe Water Wall   and   a Dino themed play garden in a tyre. 

its a work in progress and it is coming along nicely. 

We have updated and renewed the Mud Kitchen in many ways....
First I laid down some rubber mats under the mud kitchen, then i dug a dry creek bed that goes under a sweet little bridge (just to add the element of imagination into the play setting) I bordered the entire area off and laid down some plastic, then got a heap of bark chip in so now Dimples Outdoor Balance Stumps are embedded in the bark chip. He still has his Pirate tree house there, hop-scotch and many climbing apparatuses.

 

I added some pots and utensils to the Mud Station and screwed in these cute Orange metal buckets across the front so that Dimples could store his cooking ingredients in them. They make the area more practical and more appealing as everything Dimples needs is within arms length.
He can now tie in some Nature Play by collecting his own seeds, rosemary from the garden, seashells when we are out, gum nuts, dandelions, pebbles and flowers to store in the orange pots and use in his cooking creations.

A favorite meal is still Wombat Stew.
He often cooks meals, chatting away to himself, narrating his own pretend play  "just a table spoon of this, a sprinkle of that, mix it, cook it for 15 minutes, add a handful of this" I love his role playing and listening to his vocabulary develop.
He enjoys pretending to be a Master Chef at the "Dog Club Cafe" and serves up dishes full of things from the garden, add some mud, water and sand to season then he gives it to our 3 dogs.
Get this.... they actually sit and eat it (or sit there and lick the water out but Dimples is convinced he cooks gourmet style).

Another coat on the chalk board renewed its life. Its been a great addition to the mud kitchen, it aids in early literacy by providing a writing surface to practice/pretend writing a menu. I usually write a menu up to read to Dimples of he will ask me to write certain things, like Wombat Stew and watch me.
The soft outdoor rubber Mats underneath mean we don't have grass popping up everywhere any more and if Dimples drops some ingredients they can be scooped right up and reused. They also give it an indoor feel, like its a real kitchen.
I think out of all our outdoor play and DIY projects this has been consistently the most used and enjoyed.

Do you have an Outdoor Kitchen?

What is the most loved ingredient to create with?

Happy Adventures 

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I love reading your comments 
 

Outdoor PVC Pipe Water Wall

In Australia it is extremely hot with sweaty Summer days, we live on the coast so we are lucky that we get an ocean breeze but other parts of Australia aren't so lucky this time of year. Its been that hot lately that Dimples hasn't even wanted to go outdoors to play. I don't blame him! 

But after re-vamping Dimples Play area, Renovating his cubby house & his water wall we are back outside playing under the trees in the shad with some good old water play. 

Here is our new Water wall that is still off the side of his Mud kitchen. 

The Outdoor Water wall is easy to make if you're a little handy or have a handy man, even if you don't I am sure you can pull it off. All you need is a sheet of ply wood structured up, some PVC pipes, preferably the same width so the water flows easily & directly in the center of the next one, a drill and screws. 

I have spray painted the wood surface blue and I asked Adventures Dad if he could cut the PVC pipes in half length ways on his bench Saw with some different lengths and angles then I sprayed them yellow. 

That is the easy part. Putting it all together takes a little more patience and a great little helper with a bottle of water. 

I used a drill to attache the pipes on to the wall. First I held them in place as Dimples, the willing helper, stood by with a bottle of water to "test" the water wall placing. This is a crucial part.... If you just screw the pipes in any old way it wont flow smoothly so we tested the water flow before screwing them on. 

If they are too close the water splats and splashes out, mean less makes it to the bottom of the water wall, if they are too far away you might miss the mark entirely, also the water speed depends on the angle of your pipe. Dimples enjoyed testing the way the water flowed and helping get it just right.

Then is was time to use it and see which tunnels worked best and how much water made it down to the bottom. Dimples was narrating play and making inferences about which way the water will flow if he poured it down a certain pipe. It was a fun way to cool down and the good thing about doing a PVC water wall is that the pipes are wide enough for marbles and can double as a ball run. 

Hope you like it.

Dimples sure does and Miss Cherub does too. She sits at the bottom waiting for the water to come rolling down, wont be long until she is trying to pour the water as well.

Learning Experiences:

Involvement in the Design & construction of the Water wall

Scientific investigation

Open ended Play

Outdoor Play

Hand eye coordination (lift, Pour, control, move)

Concept of gravity

Peaceful and calming water play that increases focus 

Tactile and sensory learning

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How do you get the kids to cool down on a Hot Summer Day?

I love reading your comments 

Happy Adventures