Fun In Nature For Kids: Is It Time To Consider Getting A Mud Kitchen?
What Is A Mud Kitchen?
Mud kitchens are a popular outdoor play accessory that you may have seen before in a school, nursery or in the back garden of a friend or family member. They can be purchased from a play equipment company, or made at home, but they all come with a similar set of benefits for the children that use them.
Are you considering buying a mud kitchen? If you are, or maybe you’re in the market for an exciting new addition to your child’s outdoor play area, the following will give you a bit more of an insight into this fun and educational piece of play equipment:
What Is A Mud Kitchen?
A mud kitchen is an outdoor play station where children (usually aged from around 1-7) can engage in imaginative, messy play with both the equipment and added water, mud, sand and more.
The kitchen can be made up of a range of different components such as: ‘play’ washing machines, cookers, workstations, vertical and horizontal panels, cupboards, buckets and sinks. The idea is that its appearance and composition encourages a child to play creatively without any restrictions on getting messy with their surroundings.
The Benefits Of A Mud Kitchen
Mud kitchens come with a range of benefits beyond encouraging children to have lots and lots of fun. Here’s how children can benefit from playing with a mud kitchen:
Fine Motor Skills
Children are lifting, holding and gripping items, pouring, measuring and mixing items in a mud kitchen, all which help to develop fine motor skills. One study also showed that goal-oriented play, such as filling the sink with water, or following a ‘recipe’, could further enhance motor skill development and the likelihood of the activity being repeated because of the enjoyment involved in play.
Creative & Imaginative Play
Imaginative play helps children to deal with stress, with daily life, with goal-reaching, language skills and creativity.
Playing in a mud kitchen helps a child to explore all the wonder they have inside those incredible growing minds. A mud kitchen can be a place for them to present their own cooking show, to play mummy cooking dinner, to be an alien making gunge stew to feed alien pets – the possibilities are endless.
Social Skills
Social skills can be built in a mud kitchen as children learn to work with parents, peers and teachers/ assistants to share the space and play with others.
This is especially true in school and nursery settings where mud kitchens encourage children to play in the same area and to interact with each other during playtime and creative lessons outdoors.
Math & English
Math and English concepts can be included in mud kitchen play, from alphabet designs and word labels on different items, to measuring jug use, weighing and emptying – there are multiple opportunities for familiarisation and practise of academic concepts in this kind of play environment.
Time In Nature
Children benefit greatly from spending time in nature as it helps to boost their mental health, confidence, connection with the natural world and ability to take pleasure from different types of stimuli aside from screen-based entertainment they may be exposed to indoors.
By having a clear reason and motivation to play outside in the form of a mud kitchen, children are more likely to spend longer time satisfied playing in this kind of environment. Playing outdoors also encourages children to move and get more exercise, helping them to avoid struggling with being one of the 14.4% of children age 4-5 who are obese, or 13.3% who are overweight.
Sensory Play
Mud kitchens help children to enjoy sensory play, which helps develop motor skills, language, problem solving skills, concentration and more. These benefits occur because in the mud kitchen they are touching, squeezing, feeling and interacting with all different items and textures, from squishy cold mud, to gritty sprinkled sand, and even papery, aromatic herb leaves and bubbly warm water.
What Will Your Mud Kitchen Look Like?
Hopefully you’re feeling a little more inspired to add a mud kitchen to your outdoor space. Whether you choose a high-quality professional setup, or a more low-key DIY design, the children who get to play with this new and exciting piece of equipment are going to make a lot of mess, gain a lot of benefits and get plenty of time in nature – all whilst having a ton of fun!
Featured Photo by June Admiraal on Unsplash
