Wednesday, March 13, 2013

DIY Mud Kitchen












Sometimes kids should get dirty. Really muddy and dirty. Blanche strongly believes in this philosophy. As soon as she could move she was getting dirty. There are pictures of her covered from head to toe in avocado at seven months old, literally trying to eat dirt and grass when she learned to crawl at eight months, and covered in finger paint at fifteen months. So its only fitting that this spring she should be given a mud kitchen.

I was thinking back to last spring and summer and how she would pull up on Andrew's pots and dig in the dirt. We tried endlessly to keep her out of his plants. So this year I thought we should just give her a whole area of her own. Andrew, being the awesome dad that he is, immediately started remembering to save old buckets and camping pots and pans for her kitchen. I also happened to find a huge box marked "free" outside a local thrift store that had whisks and pans. All of the sudden we had everything we needed for Blanche to go to town on making mud pies.

Last Saturday, Blanche woke us up early and Andrew said, "Well, lets seize the day." We all got up (ate donuts… mmm) and Andrew soon went to work outside. Blanche and I played at the park while he took pallet boards apart and then nailed them back together in a kitchen like fashion. In only a couple of hours Andrew made a little sink and work counter and shelves with hooks to hang pots on. We talked about maybe adding some paint, but as you can see no one seemed to care if it was painted.

Saturday afternoon it started to rain just as Andrew was finished, and then continued to for the next couple of days. So yesterday when we went outside there was a new mud kitchen with a huge bucket of mud ready to be played with. The neighbor kids joined in as well. I love the last picture because everyone is just going crazy. Andrew hosed everything down when we took the kids in for baths. I now have visions of warm summer mornings when Blanche will be able to come out in her diaper and play in the mud before it gets too hot. And then maybe she can go from the mud to being hosed off along with the kitchen.

2 comments:

  1. I love this! I remember my dad making a kitchen/playhouse in our woods when I was a little girl. Such fun. :o)

    My son used to make a mud slide every summer with his friends in the back yard. They started making small ones when they were about 7 or so & by the time they were in high school their slides were very elaborate.

    I agree - every kid needs to play in the mud.

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  2. That's so great! I love that you guys have good ideas and then actually make them happen.

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