Muddy Kitchen
From March 2012, Footsteps opened their Muddy Kitchen. The process took 7 weeks to fully establish with the children and is becoming a place for the children to investigate and explore.
The Muddy Monday class rolls out as an extracurricular activity initially being adult led in order for the children to establish rules and boundaries to keep them safe, but will then be very child-led.
Why a muddy Kitchen?
Did you know that playing in the mud is beneficial to children?
Just in case you need convincing here are 10 good reasons why >>
1. Playing in the mud can make you happier.
Scientists have discovered something that children have always known - playing in the mud can lift your mood. Recent studies have revealed that dirt contains microscopic bacteria called Mycobacterium vaccae which increases the levels of serotonin in our brains, helping to relax, soothe and calm.
2. Playing in the mud connects you with nature.
If you never know something, it’s hard to care about it. Many children these days never know the outdoors beyond the school playground or their own backyards, if they even have one. Getting children outside to play (as a place to act out make believe worlds and explore) creates happy memories with the one most primal element in our world: nature.
3. Playing in the mud can make you healthier.
Step away from the antibacterial hand wipes. Research has shown that playing in the dirt - including very wet dirt - is good for a child's immune system.
“So let your child be a child. Dirt is good. If your child isn’t coming in dirty every day, they’re not doing their job. They’re not building their immunological army. So it’s terribly important.” - Mary Ruebush is the author of Why Dirt Is Good: 5 Ways to Make Germs Your Friends
4. Playing in the mud can make you smarter.
Throw away the flash cards and sent your child outside to play instead. Studies have found that playing in the dirt can make you smarter. The same release of serotonin that occurs when playing in M. vaccae dirt has also been shown to improve cognitive function.
5. Playing in the mud helps children to learn and develop.
Sensory, hands-on play feeds children's brains. Listing all the ways playing with mud - a delightfully sensory experience - can help children to learn and develop would be a whole post in itself. So I'm going to send you here for a thorough look at the value of sensory play.
6. Playing in the mud helps develop positive dispositions.
Having an area outdoors set aside for mud play - a mud patch or a mud pie kitchen for example - provides a space for children to retreat to for some time alone in a soothing sensory experience or to play with peers co-operating, communicating, negotiating and sharing.
7. Mud is a wonderful art medium.
Mud can be molded and decorated and it responds differently than sand, clay or playdough. For ideas hop on over to The Art of Mud from Artful Adventures.
8. Mud play welcomes all comers.
Mud is an open ended material that meets the different needs and interests of different children. A younger child might be right into the sensory experience while older preschoolers are busy making their own mud bricks. With mud, there is something for everyone.
9. Playing in the mud encourages creative thinking.
Playing with open-ended materials like mud stimulate creativity and imagination - things that are hard to jump start later in life.
10. Childhood memories.
Think back to your own childhood. Do you have happy memories of playing outside in the mud and the dirt? After all, making mud pies is one of the iconic images of childhood. We are creating the experiences, the memories and the childhoods of today's children. What do we want them to remember?
Information sourced from the website Let the Children play.
So how can we provide opportunities for the children to play in the mud?
Set up Phase- We have a natural muddy patch in the nursery garden we plan to edge it with sleepers or a mixture of logs and boulders in order to define the digging area. As this progresses we will use the children’s ideas and experiences to further enhance the area by adding to the look and layout of the muddy kitchen.
Sand and top soil will be added to the area to support the use of this material for building and digging .
Week one-We will talk to the children about playing in the mud, look at rules they feel we would need and how they can protect themselves and their belongings.
No eating the mud
Wear Waterproofs and/or old clothing
Wash hands after play
To get the children used to using this area we will use a variety of sticks and brushes to encourage mark making in the mud.
Week two-Introduce Containers water and tools to dig with; this will encourage the children to understand about the differences in the wet and dry soil also how it can make the digging easier and harder depending on the consistency.
We will also look this week closely at the rules the children have implemented, how we are following them and how we listen to each other and take turns.
Week Three-Combine the mark making activities and the digging activities to allow more child led learning and understanding of how to play and use the muddy kitchen area.
Re address the hand washing rules
Use spray bottles and jugs to add different amounts of water looking at the changes and what we can do with it.
Week Four-Introduce cooking utensils into play and create with the children a water wall in order to catch natural rain fall they can use in their kitchen, staff to support role play using garden items as ingredients.
Week Five-Introduce a table and chairs and outdoor tea set and perhaps a water butt, encourage the children’s role play and interaction with each other. Assist the children using the water wall by taking down the tubs and replacing them.
Week six-Ian and the children will create a BBQ style area at children’s height in order to clearly define a workspace for the children to prepare their muddy mixtures, continue to encourage the children’s imagination letting them access the whole grass garden area to find ingredients.
Week seven-With the resources available and the skills learnt allow the children to freely explore and lead play in the muddy kitchen. Constantly remind the children about the kitchen rules and how we keep ourselves safe.
Following this set up phase the kitchen will be established and the children should be confident in the use.
Each month the theme can be changed for example, tools in the area can be changed from kitchen utensils to builder’s tools.
Once this is established on a Monday we will also introduce a Wednesday and Friday session.
