Mud Mud Glorious Mud at Kidderminster Nursery

Children at Little Trinity Nursery in Kidderminster are having a ‘mud-ulous’ time investigating and playing with their mud kitchen as part of the nursery’s summer outside learning activities. Staff at the Birmingham Road nursery set up the mud kitchen to further extend outdoor learning opportunities, and to help the children develop and explore the many fun and creative ways of using mud as part of their play activities. Nursery manager, Miss Gaynor Carter, said: “The Mud kitchen is just that, as it involves using soil and water to make mud, which then involves getting very messy as they enjoy getting covered in mud, exploring and using their mud-imagination to be creative.” Over recent years mud kitchens have become very popular within nursery settings as it provides children with the opportunity to explore natural materials in an outside environment. All children at Little Trinity can access the mud kitchen throughout the day as it encourages their personal and social development as well as their understanding of the world, allowing them to express themselves through art and design, helps to improve their communication and language skills as the children use words to play in and describe the mud and a mud kitchen can also aid physical development, with the children using their hands to make marks in the mud. Added Miss Carter: “Individual Early Years personal, social and emotional development activities are greatly encouraged at Little Trinity with our children supported and encouraged to investigate at every opportunity through touch, smell and when appropriate taste! “Playing in a mud kitchen is roleplay at its finest, the same as when they use an indoor kitchen play area but instead the children make mud-cakes, cups of mud-tea and even make mud-pies for their friends. They simply love creating mud recipes which often includes items such as pine cones, sticks, leaves and of course the all-important mud, along with a good dollop of imagination!”