Spring rains have come our way and that means two things in our house- 1. I’ll be on a steady diet of mud pies from now until summer and 2. I’ll be continuously asking “Is that mud, chocolate, or something else?!” to my boys twenty times a day. No joke.
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My boys LOVE our mud kitchen. It’s nothing fancy, though. Just an inexpensive (see: curbside freebie) play kitchen, but it does the trick and cleans up easily when necessary. (Here’s a similar play kitchen to compare what it looks like without all the mud).
We also have a set of pots and pans that we keep in mud kitchen for pie and other dessert making.
So last week we had the mud kitchen, the pots and pans, the mud, and the rain. The only thing missing was toy food, but I was not about to let that get all muddy (I have my limits). I decided to make our own mud-worthy play food using rocks. They were so ridiculously easy to make and the boys loved the finished product.
Supplies
- Flat stones
- Acrylic paint (or chalk markers)
- Clear coat spray paint (or clear nail polish)
If you’re going to make these you’ve got a few choices. You can go the fancy version using acrylic paint and clear coat, or you can go the frugal version using chalk markers and clear nail polish. I chose frugal because I already had everything I needed and also because I’m cheap 😉
Directions:
Gather your stones and start drawing fruit and vegetables on them. (Side note: I tried to make some that looked like orange and lemon slices, but they look more like pumpkin and lemon meringue pie. Ah well. They’ll be perfect a la mode with mud ice cream to top them off!)
See the eggplant in there? My kids have never actually eaten egg plant but that didn’t stop me from including it in our pretend food.
Once all the fruits, veggies, and pies are drawn on the rocks, they have to be sealed with either clear coat or clear nail polish (I just covered the portion of rock that I had drawn on, no need to seal the whole thing). Let them dry thoroughly before placing them in the mud kitchen. Once dry, they’re safe to get wet and muddy!
It was fun to watch the kids get creative with these. Peas turned into green jelly beans (which were stuffed into the middle of mud pies), while carrots and blueberries made a nice stew. Yum. Isn’t your mouth just watering right now? 😉
I’d love to see how you make your own mud kitchen foods! Snap a photo and tag me on Instagram. Don’t forget to pin this idea before you go, though:
Thanks for the idea! My kids would love to make these!
I’d love to see the ones you guys make! Tag me on Instagram when you finish!
thank you for this great idea. i will now look out for some rocks to use. i am a Family Day Care educator and i am looking forward to trying these. in the past we have had plastic and wooden food and but these either are wrecked by the water or broken by rough play. i thank you for sharing this great ides.
Awesome mud kitchen idea for kids outdoor play. They can play and make a huge fun. At the same times, they can pretend that they are cooking all kind of dishes. This type of activities will help your kids a lot for improving their creativity and imagery thoughts when they just spend times in outside area. Thanks for sharing this idea. I just back in my childhood.
Tips on where to get the rocks for this ?
We found them right in our backyard!
Wow, I wish I’d thought of that when my kids were the right age! They played mud kitchen all the time but it never occurred to me that I could take the plastic kitchen they never used outside for them….or paint food rocks.
Thank you for this wonderful concept. i can now look out for a few rocks to use. i am a own family Day Care educator and i am searching ahead to attempting those. inside the past we’ve got had plastic and wood meals and however these both are wrecked by using the water or broken by using tough play. i thank you for sharing this awesome ides.
These are so cute! I love that these can be played with outside! I much prefer these fruit and veggie designs to the store-bought toy food that I see which is so often designed to look like packaged foods. Lovely craft!
Do you think you could cut out pictures of fruit and modge podge it on top of the rock?
I bet you could!!