Mud Pie Kitchen

This was totally inspired by a visit to my friend Rhonda’s house earlier this summer when I was in North Dakota.  Nestled under some beautiful evergreen trees in her yard was a terrific mud kitchen.  Her girls were busy cooking up a storm.  Instantly I knew that it would be the perfect thing for my crew.  They have been making mud stew all summer long with neighbor friends, and I knew that they would absolutely love having a kitchen set up with pots, pans, bowls, and utensils.

I got my friend to email me a picture of her mud kitchen so I could show Dr. Peds, and we also did a little searching on Pinterest to incorporate some additional ideas.  Dr. Peds said it would be no problem to build the mud kitchen, but our summer got a little crazy and we just didn’t get around to it.  Last Saturday he was off for the day, and he said, “Let’s build a mud kitchen with the scrap wood we have lying around.”  The kids told him about the ideas that were most important to them, and then they all went to work with some power tools.  The kidlets did the measuring and I believe some of the cutting themselves. (Hence the wonderful rustic look!  I love how it’s so authentic.).  The held pieces together while they were nailed, and after a few hours, we had a delightful little kitchen.

It was put to immediate use, especially since we had good friends over for supper that night.  None of the kids cared that it was drizzling and raining outside.  They were super focused on cooking with mud and leaves and wilted flowers.

Some of the things we like best about the design of our mud kitchen are the shelves and hooks for utensils, bowls, and pans.  We also have a multi-basin sink, which you can’t really see in these images because that part was still in process when I took these photographs.  There are additional lower shelves, and even a little floor in front of the kitchen to cut down on the inevitable mud pit that would develop there without some kind of platform to stand on.  The best part of all is that the mud kitchen was built for taller kids.  We are still in the process of adding additional cookware and utensils.

The kidlets love, love, LOVE this kitchen.  So many times in the last few days have I heard, “Thank you so much for our mud kitchen.”  They have been creating delicacies nonstop.