Mud Pie Kitchen ~ Am I CRAZY?!

[FSD]

Hi ladies....I need to know if you all think I'm crazy for thinking of creating a mud pie kitchen for the kiddos. Thoughts? Advice? Perhaps some of you have experience with one already....how do you clean the kids up afterwards? Am I just asking for a major headache? Thanks in advance!

[5 Little Monkeys]

Sounds fun but yes messy and time consuming. I would do it once a week or something like that but not daily. That would be a lot of mess and clean up on top of everything else we need to do on a daily basis and I doubt parents would want to take dirty messy kids home everyday lol.

I would put them in their bathing suits and then let them run through the sprinkler to wash off.

[torontokids]

I had a mud pit they could play with and I'll be honest it wasn't worth it. They didn't like it as much as I thought they would. What we do instead now is I have an outdoor kitchen and they bake cakes etc in there with the sandbox sand which they love. We do dig regularly in the garden for worms etc or to garden so they get lot's of mud time in there.

[AmandaKDT]

Last year I let them dig in the dirt and using watercans to make mud. They used scoops, shovels and little trucks. It was more like playing in the sandbox. I did it on a day with a smaller group of kids and just hosed them off afterwards. It is definitely messy, wouldn't do it too often.

[playfelt]

Never did it for daycare but my own kids had one for after hours which was then followed by a hose off and into the bathtub to get the rest of it off. Too much trouble for a daycare day by the time each one is washed, hair washed etc. Not having the mess back in my house for naptime otherwise and truthfully no parent wants to take home a dirty/wet child that is going to make a mess in their carseat. Yes they want the kids to have fun and would love it if we did that but not if it impacts them ie in the car.

[FSD]

Thanks for the advice! I think I will hold off with doing it for the daycare kids, but I will do it for my own girls. :)

[Fun&care]

I don't have a mud kitchen per se, but the back of my yard is naturally muddy and in the summer we have a sprinkler day once per week and if they want to cover themselves head to toe in mud they are welcome to it BUT they are forewarned that they will have to be hosed down and the water is COLD so as long as they are ok with that, I am ok with the mud.

[Dreamalittledream]

I do have the Makin' Mud Pies outdoor kitchen toy (http://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/little-tikes-makin-mudpies/6000001847728).
They actually don't make mud with it but love pumping water (a toy that uses muscle power, not batteries, yay!) out into the bowl and stirring it to make 'soups' out of leaves, grass, sticks etc.
I have had no issue at all with clean up.

[torontokids]

I had horrible luck with the making mudpies kitchen. The pump stopped working on the first one, the first time it was used and they sent me a new one. The 2nd pump, same thing and the handle broke off on the mixer.

[FSD]

I'm glad you wrote that torontokids, as I've been scouring store websites trying to find one! I have a play kitchen outside already so I think I'm just going to take a trip to the local Value Village and buy some pots and pans, and other kitchen supplies and let the kids have at it with water, but no mud! I like the sound of grass & dandelion soup!

[Secondtimearound]

I have a mud pie kitchen !!! Yup messy but so much fun !! I'm not sure if It's the same as posted above , I just bought pots and pans and $ store baking items and let them at it !! I warned parents and indeed it is messy but they have so much fun !!
I'm big into messy play !!!
We play outside for 1 1/2 hrs -2hrs before lunch and that is when they play messy !! Then we clean up and change , then I clean up when everyone naps . When we go out again at 4 , we have more cleaner play !!

[Dreamalittledream]

I had horrible luck with the making mudpies kitchen. The pump stopped working on the first one, the first time it was used and they sent me a new one. The 2nd pump, same thing and the handle broke off on the mixer.. Oh no, so sorry that happened. I must have gotten lucky; no issues at all here...it was even out all winter and works like a charm:)