To mud kitchen or not to mud kitchen...?

[flowlow]

Hi all

 

I know there has been several threads on here about a mud kitchen but I wondered if I could ask for some tips.

 

I work out of a hall and the only area we have is at the front of the building which we have to keep in a reasonable condition (aesthetically speaking) as the hall community obviously want it to be presentable for the whole local area at all times. We have a shed to the side and a piece of garden where we have a digging bed and a sensory garden, some tree stumps under the trees for bug hunting and a bird table. It looks good so to speak so they are happy for us to keep this here, all toys come in and out of the shed on a daily basis like the rest of the pack away stuff does inside.

 

BUT I would love a mud kitchen!!! I wonder how I could accomplish this and still have an area that 'looks nice' to outside people? any suggestions? I have thought maybe placing it under trees (which is also hidden from the road by the side of the shed) and then just washing everything down each day, but this might be a lot of work and as a pack away setting not sure if we would have the time each day, or we would do it with the kids which may mean a very limited time available for this kind of play so it may not work so well.

 

so to mud kitchen or not to mud kitchen?????

 

 

[Guest]

that is what we have been doing we have no garden just tarmac so it needs washing and brushing away at the end of the day. This has been our first week kids love it looks very messy as they are not containing this in the area though with training this will come however staff finding it hard work to put away the loose parts and clean very day. lots of grumbling we are still working on it

[Guest]

We have enclosed our area with sleepers and filled it with bark chippings which looks presentable when the mud kitchen is finished with and helps filter the mud out of the water so it keeps the rest of the area free from muddy puddles

[Guest]

Hi I'm a pack away and we have a mud kitchen, it is a loved by our children

 

We have a garden with a water tap, the mud is contained by sleepers but it is moved about the garden but that is part of the learning.

We have 4 milk grates (2stacked together) across that sits a wooden 'work top' our real kitchen utensils are carried to and fro in a crate

We are in a church hall, so also share space,

 

We clean off untesils Dalit otherwise they can get smelly, if you have no tap water use water in bottles or a camping water container with a tap on it. U could contain your mud in flower tubs it's not necessarily the amount of mud but the opportunity to explore

 

So worth the effort

 

Sorry this might be bitty it's late and I have just finished working (job no 2) )

[Rea]

I want a mud kitchen, but because its a shared space I didn't think we'd be able to, the idea of containing the area is fab. Thanks

[Guest]

Rea up late like me . It is fun ( mud kitchen not necessarily being up late) and it is doable .

 

I do meet opposition to some of the things I do at my setting from some people in the church , but I have spent a long time building links and relationships and on the whole what we do is valued mainly because it brings regular income to the church( my cynical self)

 

Something's I can't have like my wooden play house with a living roof was a step to far:))

[Scarlettangel]

We are not a pack away setting but containing the mud was really important to us!

 

(Having had mud days in the past where EVERY resource was used and muddy!)

 

So we have all of our resources for the mud kitchen marked with a little flower and these resources do not come out of the mud kitchen area and if the toy or resources they are holding does not have a flower on it it does not go into the mud kitchen area!!

We used some go go balance (plastic resource) on its side to make the area slightly enclosed and to make a boundary.

 

The mud is kept in a tractor tyre which has a tuff spot oer it when it needs covering.

 

We opened ours in April and it has been a massive hit!

 

Obviously at this time we will have to do some reinforcing of these rules for the mud kitchen because of new children, and this will mean adult input for a while!

 

We wash our resources about once a week, unless the rain does it for us! The children help with this task.

 

We don't have an outside tap but use a beer barrel and wine barrel that have taps for the children to access the water.

 

The area can look messy but a good stiff broom can really help that!

[Panders]

We are packaway i think you could do it. At the end of the play time outside, about 10 minutes before we bring out a bucket of soapy water and washing up brushes, the children love love love doing the washing up, we then put that stuff into bread crates to drain, we sloosh down the table we use, we have a two tier trolley and brush the muddy water down the carpark. We haven't had problems as yet, Our children like a lot of water with their mud, so disposing hasn't been a problem it just runs straight out into a mains drain. However, I do like the idea above about containing the mud in an old tyre, might see if we can manage that with the solid stuff. By the way we use bags of top soil from B&Q to make the mud

[Mouseketeer]

We have just constructed an area for mud kitchen, though not sure how 'messy' staff will actually allow without too much moaning about cleaning, but during hols a couple of committee and children came to have a look and they just found sand, picked grass, and added a few bits of gravel and spent ages mixing in bowls and pans with different utensils....so maybe that could work for general use and plan in specific times where it was able to become a real 'mud kitchen' ?

 

 

Love the idea of beer keg with tap Scarlettangel

Edited September 8, 2013 by mouse63

[thumperrabbit]

We have a storage box filled with top soil from B&Q - we put out a few child sized watering cans full of water and then use utensils that are especially for mud play.

We manage to clean the patio but can't clear up the spillages that go on the grass and as such it was bought up as an 'issue' at the church hall committee meeting

 

We feel that we have cleared up as much as we can, but the church have said if we have cleaned up as much as we say we have, then we are going to have to stop doing the activity

We really don't know how much more we could clean away and it does take a long time to clean the area even to the standard at which we are doing

[Panders]

We have a storage box filled with top soil from B&Q - we put out a few child sized watering cans full of water and then use utensils that are especially for mud play.

We manage to clean the patio but can't clear up the spillages that go on the grass and as such it was bought up as an 'issue' at the church hall committee meeting

 

We feel that we have cleared up as much as we can, but the church have said if we have cleaned up as much as we say we have, then we are going to have to stop doing the activity

We really don't know how much more we could clean away and it does take a long time to clean the area even to the standard at which we are doing

We have a builders. tray which is square a quite deep now something similar to that and you might be able to contain the mess obviously children will need to wear wellingtons because they will be standing in the'mess'.

[Upsy Daisy]

Could you use a sandpit with a lid and simply hose down the outside of it and surrounding area at the end of the session?

[redjayne]

get a stiff garden broom and just sweep the 'spillages' into the grass - can they not see a bit of extra quality topsoil is good for it ? ! :1b