new booklet on making a mud kitchen

A mud kitchen includes elements of the much-loved domestic corner and cooking from indoor play, which are then hugely enriched through the special nature of being outside.  - Jan White

Mud kitchens, mud pie kitchens, outdoor kitchens - no matter what you choose to call them - are such a valuable addition to any outdoor play space that I have blogged about them time and time again.


Jan White, author and all round outdoor play guru clearly shares my enthusiasm for all things mud pie kitchen.  So much so that she has written the book on it.  A free, easy to download booklet called "Making a Mud Kitchen."

Says Jan:

There are hundreds of wonderful, homemade mud kitchens being shared on blogs and pinterest around the world – take a nice long tour and be enthused and inspired!

If you are looking for an inexpensive and simple addition to your outdoor space that will provide hours of engagement for children of all ages, then you can't go past a mud pie kitchen, and you can't go past "Making a Mud Kitchen" for inspiration.

It's curtains for preschool

Nanna's curtains that is.

Strung up between two posts, they create an invitation to peek in and explore what lies beyond.  Or peek out of as you mix up your mud pies and enjoy that delicious sense of seclusion.

They create a statement in the cubby.

And blow gently in the breeze.

Next time you are at a thrift shop, check out the curtain section and see if you can't snap up some lace nanna curtains of your very own.

Use them for cubby making.  Hang them from the clothes line to create a child-sized space.  Drape them from the branches of a tree and lay out a blanket and some books beneath.

What have you picked up from the thrift shop lately that is getting a good workout?

Picnic in the dirt patch

A picnic blanket, pots and pans and a great big tub of wood chips by the dirt patch to welcome little picnickers on a sunshiny day. 

They collect, they scoop, they spoon, they fill, they mix, they stir, they experiment, they talk.

 They cook up a natural feast.

 

Lay down a picnic blanket, set out some old cooking utensils next to a patch of dirt and step back.  Hours of outdoor fun and play - it's that simple.