Making mud stew – messy play for kids

Have your children ever had a mud kitchen? I haven’t made one for my girls but to be honest we haven’t really needed one yet.

One of their favourite activities is to make mud stew or mud potions. They combine ingredients in empty plant pots, our bird bath or if they’re really sneaky, sometimes I catch them with my favourite bowls. I’m not very impressed if I find them with my bowls!

The beauty of making a mud stew or potion is that you already have the ingredients (dirt and nature),  you already have the utensils (bucket, bowls and sticks) and there are so many ways to extend on this activity too (our ideas below).

Here’s what a mud stew looks like

Collecting ingredients was just as much fun as creating the stew. Their chosen ingredients from nature:

• Water
• Dirt
• Grass clippings
• Gumnuts
• Rocks
• Some left over Nature’s Glitter

Add a lot of dirt to the water.

Then, add the ingredients.

Finally, stir the mixture – thoroughly!

This activity was joyful to watch.

I’ve got a list of ways to extend on the muddy fun for next time, which will probably be tomorrow, with my bowls!

• Giving them metric cups, teaspoons and kitchen weighing scales to measure their ingredients
• Setting up a video camera to see if the girls would like to do their own mud stew cooking show
• Setting up an area for a mud kitchen so that they can cook more than just stews
• Providing a play area for the girls to serve their mud stew to pretend customers

What child would want to be inside watching television when they could be getting muddy,  exploring nature and unknowingly learning outside?!