Children love mud kitchens. It is great to help them connect with nature, have messy playtime, and to use their imagination.

Thanks to Rebecca, from Canada, who sent in details of her fantastic mud kitchen. Let’s take a look at it and get some inspiration to help us create our own…

What did you do?

We made a mud kitchen! I am extremely motivated to teach my son about nature especially since the Covid-19 and lockdowns etc.

I discussed the idea with my husband Adam (he is a self-employed electrician and thank goodness he is handy LOL). We have a corner in our front yard that just wasn’t growing and I thought let’s do a mud kitchen.

We decided to take our son on an adventure and look for material to keep the costs down. The only piece of wood we paid for was the counter-top. We even received the wood chips for free. What we quickly learned, was that people were interested in our idea and didn’t hesitate to donate the materials.

The idea of the mud kitchen has just kept evolving. We added the waterfall, the running sink water, and a music corner.

As my husband was putting it together I just kept coming up with more ideas. One thing I did not factor in the budget was the amount of screws we used. Once it was completed I went to our local dollar store and stocked his kitchen with equipment etc.

A photo of a mud kitchen

Tell the Housebound With Kids community a bit about yourself…

My name is Rebecca and I have a 4 year old son named Macalo. We live in Ontario Canada. Macalo was attending a wonderful Montessori school and I quickly had to figure a way to keep him engaged and not in front of a screen.

A photo of a mud kitchen - pots screwed to tree trunks

How are you finding being Housebound with Kids?

I am really enjoying our time together as a family. My son is excited to learn. Don’t get me wrong there are moments when I want to pull my hair out and I am fortunate enough to trade off with my husband and take some personal self-care time.

However, I think it’s important to remember that this time is so precious together I try to focus on the positive and keep things as normal as possible for our son and everyone’s mental health.

Has this website and community helped you?

I am glad you are providing this resource and will certainly promote it.

A photo of water bottles attached to tree trunks- like a waterfall, into a green bucket.  there is a lizard ornament.

Click here for more Housebound with Kids messy play ideas.