How To Make A Mud Kitchen

Ahhh summertime. Its is by far my favorite time of the year! When I think of summer, I think of sunshine, lazy days by the pool, open windows, and the smell of fresh cut-grass wafting through the air. However, not all parts of summer is rainbows and unicorns, especially when it comes to kids!

One thing I hear most parents complain of to some degree is how to keep their kids busy and active without spending a ton of money, and without constantly entertaining them, or plopping them in front of the TV or video games.

And let me tell you….. in today’s technology driven culture this is no easy feat! I do however believe that kids get WAY too much indoor time, and not nearly enough time outdoors!

In fact, a recent study showed that children today spend less time outdoors than any other generation, devoting only four to seven minutes to unstructured outdoor play per day while spending an average of seven and
a half hours in front of electronic media.

That is sad, shocking, depressing, and to be honest….NEEDS TO CHANGE!

Trust me, I get it, we are all busy working moms and dads with endless “to do” lists. And sometimes it is so much easier to stick them in front of an I-pad or TV screen just so you can get a few moments of peace! I am guilty as charged and am by no means mom shaming you.

I do however believe that if we help and support each other, and we are intentional with what our beliefs are in regards to how we want to raise our kids, we can make HUGE strides in giving our kids more of the childhood that we had!

I don’t know about you but when I was kid we really didn’t have much for toys. That might be in part because I come from a family where money was tight. It took all my mom had to put clothes on our backs and food on the table.

But you know what… I LOVED my childhood!

We learned to make due with what we had, which mostly consisted of our bikes, a baseball glove, a bat,  a skateboard that we shared, and just about anything we could find in nature!

We made bows, arrows, and sling shots out of branches and a little twine. We climbed trees and made forts. We played cops and robbers. Indians and cowboys. And the list goes on and on. But one of my most fond memories was playing in my grandma’s playhouse and the endless hours making mud soup, mud burgers, mud pies, and just about everything else you can think of made out of mud!

We would assign everyone a role, someone was Dad, someone was Mom, and someone was the baby.  We would play for hours and hours with just mud, a few rusty kitchen utensils, and our imaginations! That’s it!

So when summer began this year,  I was brainstorming ideas for my kids to stay busy and screen free.  I thought “hey, how hard can it be to make a mud kitchen?” So that is what we set out to do!

We used super cheap pine wood, 2×4’s,  and our imaginations to put it all together. I say that because we did not have a specific plan that we went off of, but as you can see it is pretty straight forward as to how it was built.

I think that is the best part about stuff like this is that you can let your imagination run wild!

Here is a pic after I painted and stained it. Note: Make sure you use outdoor paint and stain so it will last with the weather and water….

Here is the finished product…I am absolutely IN LOVE and so are my kids! And…. it was pretty easy to put together! I bought most of my supplies from our local thrift store and we even used mostly scrap wood to put it all together! Oh and the mud, that was FREE!

My kids have had countless hours of fun with this kitchen with no end in sight!

Here is a better picture of how it is all arranged…

I used nails to hang the pans, the two metal round dishes are sinks and are screwed into the counter, and the burners are just wooden disks that I bought at Hobby Lobby and painted black.

This basket holds all of their muffin tins, cookie sheets, and lids. I also like it because it is open and allows everything to drain.

This is the bin I use to hold all the mud, rocks, sand, and sticks. When they are done playing for the day they just dump it all back in here and start over the next day!

Here are some of their yummy creations they have made…

Mud Muffins! Yum…

Mud Tea! Fantastic….

Mud Cookies! Delicious…..

Mud Soup! Savory….

This was so simple and yet is so fun! The goal of this post was to inspire you that your kids don’t always need the newest latest gadget or toy! Sometimes all they need is sunshine and simple!

I truly believe these are the days my kids will hold onto forever! Yes they are getting messy and yes mud is dirty, but the memories will last forever, and the creativity is priceless, so I am ok with that!

If you are still not convinced to let your kids play in the mud please read these 10 convincing reasons why you should change your mind!