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Why Mud Kitchens Are The Perfect Addition To Any School Playground

Posted On Wednesday, 20 July 2022 20:19
Why Mud Kitchens Are The Perfect Addition To Any School Playground

Children love to run out into the playground at break time to run, jump, socialise, play and just have a lot of fun so that they can recharge between classroom learning time. 

Whilst having this wonderful, open space to enjoy is beneficial in itself, there are various types of equipment that can enhance the playground even more. Examples are exciting structures like climbing frames, swing sets, planters and towers.

Today, though, the spotlight is on the humble mud kitchen. 

It’s a toy that has been around forever in different forms. Cobbled together tables and buckets in domestic gardens have been allowing kids everywhere to make many a mud pie, and a happy memory for decades. 

What you may not know is that the mud kitchen not only has a place in a playground, but it should actually be one of your first choices if you’re selecting a piece of play equipment for your school's outdoor space. Here’s why: 

First Things First… What Is A Mud Kitchen? 

A mud kitchen is one, or several pieces of equipment designed to create a pretend outdoor kitchen for children to play in and with.

Its primary purpose is to encourage imaginary play, as the child doesn’t actually cook of course, but they pretend to cook using mud, sand, water and other safe materials. 

Mud kitchens may also include pretend cookers, pretend washing machines, pretend sinks and storage spaces, as well as a range of accessories like pans, buckets, spoons and measuring jugs. 

Some schools also choose to have herbs and other ‘ingredients’ growing to help children engage their sense of smell and to help them become more familiar with growing food and nature in general. 

Why Is A Mud Kitchen A Perfect Addition To Any School Playground? 

Mud kitchens are exceptional sensory play tools that are inclusive of a wide range of abilities, age groups and play styles. Because they are so open and safe, children with learning and physical disabilities can enjoy having fun with them too. 

There are many ways that children and schools can benefit from the addition of a mud kitchen in the playground, including: 

Visual Appeal

Mud kitchens are messy, yes, but they are also colourful, interesting and exciting to look at. They can turn a plain, uninteresting corner into an exciting opportunity for fun, contributing to the overall visual appeal of any educational outdoor space. 

Hand-Eye Coordination

Children play with mud kitchens by grabbing, squashing and moving mud or sand around with their fingers and hands, making shapes like pies and mounds. This kind of messy play helps to improve hand-eye coordination. 

Motor Skills

Motor skills relate to the coordination and strengthening of a child's body, as well as the way they interact with, and move around in their physical surroundings. As mud kitchen play involves lots of touch, crouching and lifting, both fine and gross motor skills are engaged and aided in development with this kind of equipment. 

Academic Awareness

Children can begin to understand academic subjects like English and Maths as they play in a mud kitchen. Different utensils and items might be labelled, and words are used to describe different items. Children also practise their language skills when enjoying role play in a mud kitchen. 

Measuring, recognising shapes and recognising sequences through mud kitchen play also help a child begin to be aware of mathematical ideas, especially if supervisors provide tasks such as measuring out a certain amount of water for the ‘recipe’ in a measuring jug. 

Imaginative Play

Mud kitchens really do reveal their worth when it comes to imaginative play. 

In a mud kitchen a child can be a TV presenter, they can be making food for the animals in their zoo, they can be mummy or daddy making tea for the kids, they might even be tiny bacteria creating superfood so they can all grow massive and take over the world!

All the while, whilst they are having fun with imaginative play, they may enjoy benefits like: lower stress levels, better emotional competence, better concentration, increased creativity, better ability to share and collaborate and better logical reasoning skills. 

Time In Nature

Kids are spending time in nature just by being outdoors in the playground. However, in a mud kitchen they are encouraged to spend more time not only in nature, but engaging with natural materials like leaves, sticks, mud and water. 

Studies tell us that for kids, time outside in nature helps to decrease stress levels, to encourage kids to ask questions about nature and the environment, helps to get kids moving and helps to promote creativity and imagination. It’s also proven to help build their confidence too. 

“We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing.” - Charles Schaefer

A mud kitchen is a smart choice for any educational facility looking to enhance their playground with professional play equipment. 

If you are looking to boost the outdoor space of your school with a mud kitchen, consider choosing an experienced, professional play equipment supplier who sticks to all the latest safety standards, and who provides products that are durable and designed to last. 

With this kind of considered investment, your mud kitchen is sure to last term after term, providing endless fun and educational benefits to happy pupils day after day. 

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