NURTURE YOUR CHILD'S CREATIVITY WITH A MUD KITCHEN

Mud kitchen's are play stations and are a fantastic for some outdoor play. Your children can get all messy (if they want) and it provides an opportunity to spark your child's imagination, as well as other skills such as numeracy and fine motor skills. With ideas such as painted vegetable and fruit rocks to recipe cards, read more to see what we have included in our mud kitchen.

Purchasing or making a mud kitchen has always been on our ‘toddler bucket list’, and after recently playing with their Grandparents mud kitchen we felt it was time we got one too. It also helped with the decision making when I saw that JoJo Maman Bébé were offering a discounted TP Toys Junior Chef one - the mud kitchen mission had been accepted.

The little chefs busy creating many culinary delights

Once we erected said kitchen it was time to start kitting it out. Listed below is a brief summary for we needed:

• Utensils and pots and pans - Ours came with some stainless-steel pans and a whisk. I went to a local kitchenware store and bought some cheap extra little pans, as I didn’t want them to fight over them. I also found some old bits from our kitchen that I didn’t use anymore, such as a wooden spoon and spatulas.

• Natural materials - Examples include leaves, sticks and pinecones.

• Painted rocks - Paint a variety of vegetable and fruits on the rocks, either as a little project for yourself, for your little one or attempt as a joint effort.

• Recipe cards - Subscribe to Head of the Hive and access our recipe cards in the Resource Library. I would recommend laminating for longevity.

• Aprons or overalls - Depending on what materials you're going to be 'cooking' with and the weather conditions, you may decide you need something to protect your little one's clothes.

We went to a local woods to collect some different natural items, which included: pinecones, acorns, leaves and twigs. I also added some shells to the mix. It won't be long before we'll head out to collect some conkers. We have some topsoil that is accessible for the children to use in the mud kitchen too, as well as an external tap to add water.

Our natural materials for creating food masterpieces...Junior MasterChef the competition is fierce over here!

I then bought some affordable rocks from Hobbycraft, acrylic paint pens and a sealing spray from Amazon. I did quite a bit of research for the pens, having settled on these ones, but there are lots of different types (note there is no brown colour in my chosen ones). I bought the sealing spray to give the artwork some longevity, and when doing it I placed them on some cardboard and wore a mask. They took approximately an hour to dry. Big Bee told me what she wanted me to draw on the rocks and she specifically requested that she draw the banana rock, which had a touch of gold glitter because apparently all bananas should have glitter on them...obviously.

Delicious fruit and vegetables (oh, and ice-cream) anyone?

I then made the children some A6 mud kitchen recipe cards too, from oak oatcakes to pinecone pie, and laminated them so that they will last longer. It was also a fantastic excuse to buy a laminator (I've always had this irrational need to have one) and add to my stationary collection! Within 1 minute of playing with them, they had gone for a little swim in their sink, so I'm relived I didn't skip this step. If you download the recipes then I would recommend printing onto card first. You can access these for free from the Resource Library when you have subscribed on the home page.

Head of the Hive's recipe cards

The children absolutely love playing with their mud kitchen, and below I've listed some of the benefits that we've found:

• Fresh air - It's another excuse to get them outside and enjoy your outdoor space and the natural elements. Also, in order to collect some materials that have fallen off tress you will likely need to explore your garden or head to the woods, or local park etc. so this is another great excuse to get out and about.

• Appreciating nature - For example, when out collecting pinecones or acorns, it opens up opportunities to discuss nature and help nurture an early respect for it.

• Imaginative play/role play - I’ve found that the mud kitchen creates endless opportunities for different role-play and (questionable) culinary delights, such as carrot chocolate soup. Your child has the freedom to explore and be independent of adults guiding their play (adults should supervise though). It also provides another platform for older siblings to boss around their sous chef!

• Fine motor skills - With all the pouring, scooping, pinching, stirring, whisking, stacking, patting etc. on offer, it really is a fantastic way to encourage and develop their fine motor skills.

• Number recognition and counting - With the mud card recipes I have included the written number rather than the word in order to allow for easy number recognition for pre-schoolers. I have then shown the image of the item the corresponding number of times. I have also included the written name to help with letter recognition and then for reading words for older children.

• Sensory development - There are so many different textures available to enjoy from the bumpy shells, to the coarse pinecones.

Click to Access the Resource Library