This is the third post post in our three-part series on How to Set up a Mud Pie Kitchen. In case you missed it:
Part 1. How to Set Up a Mud Pie Kitchen: How to test and conduct some basic need-finding to see how your child will use the kitchen before you invest in the location or supplies
Part 2. Shopping for Mud Pie Kitchen Accessories: Sourcing the op shop, thrift store, or second hand shop for all the supplies you’ll need. As an option, bring your child along and give him or her a budget to work with.
Mud Pie Kitchen Ideas
So, after testing out our basic mud pie kitchen and shopping for accessories, we had more mud pie kitchen ideas than we knew what to do with!
In case you’re just catching up with us, we’ve been building a mud pie kitchen in our yard. It began in part as a way to lure my child into our yard, but its popularity with our resident 3-year old has organically turned this into one of our summer’s bigger projects. And the biggest surprise is that it’s been almost entirely child-driven.
About a month ago we started with this. A couple crates, some sand toys, and lots of big ideas. Two weeks later the kitchen was still going strong, so we piled into the car to drive to the Goodwill to search for mud kitchen treasures.
This is how it looked after our thrift store trip. But did you know that my daughter likes things in their places? I was aware that the hodge-podge pile of dishes and scoopers might eventually keep her away from the outdoor kitchen, so I pulled out a jar of nails for us to hammer in “hooks” for our pots and utensils.
What I didn’t anticipate is N’s interest in hammering the nails in HERSELF! But I should have. This child has three (3!!) wooden hammers and couldn’t scramble into the house fast enough to get one.
She hammered in a few nails, but really enjoyed directing me to hammer nails in specific places.
N’s friend came over and the two of them were so industrious in this new space. It was actually very difficult to turn off the caramel-maker and break up the party at closing time!
And now I think we’re done! I love the order that the hanging utensils brings to the kitchen.
