The favourite thing around here is most definitely the mud kitchen!!! And you do not need anything expensive to make one!
We used an old kitchen sink and the attached work surface!! We have plans to replumb the sink into a Jerry can of water, but that’s not happened yet….. But realistically all you need are a flat surface and a washing up bowl of water!!
Then some old pots pans and utensils!! And of course mud, water, and some other bits and bobs to explore!
We have had pumpkins, berries, bird seed and nuts various leaves and veg in there to “cook” with and we even converted a large plastic box to be an oven!!
It is truly amazing what children will use, cable reels have been tables, chairs, built into castles…. drain pipes, guttering all useful additions, basically though as long as there is mud, a bowl of water and a few utensils they will have fun!!
The learning outcomes from this activity can be very far reaching, social skills, imagination and creativity, mathematical, language and communication, knowledge and understanding of the world…. all depends on what the children have to use, scales for example help with maths, but so does filling and emptying containers, comparing sizes of rocks, etc…