Use a wheelbarrow to create a mobile mud patch for mud play in your backyard play space!  It’s like a portable mud kitchen, and it will provide your kids with hours of good, old-fashioned muddy play! It’s a wonderful way to provide a temporary mud patch or mud kitchen in your backyard at home or preschool without having to dig up a patch of your lawn.
My daycare kids love to play in the mud, so we’ve come up with tons of creative mud play activities over the years. Many, we’ve done for International Mud Day which is June 29th every year.
My preschoolers love making mud pies and driving their cars and trucks through a patch of mud. Â Don’t get me wrong – they LOVE our sandbox, but mud can be so much more fun to play in because of the ooey-gooey sensory satisfaction it provides. Â It feels good, it sounds good, and believe it or not, mud is GOOD for us.
Mud is good for your health!
Did you know that digging your hands in the mud has been scientifically proven to have health benefits? Playing in mud, dirt and soil can actually reduce stress and anxiety, and increase seratonin levels and stimulating neuron growth.
Yep. Â Mud play is GOOD for us!
Mud kitchens and mud-pits are very popular in natural outdoor play spaces, but it’s not always possible to dedicate a patch of your lawn or garden to a permanent mud play area.
Make a temporary mud kitchen instead!
I wanted a mud-patch so badly for the hooligans, but I wasn’t keen to dig up a part of our backyard, so I came up with the PERFECT SOLUTION!
I created a mud pit that wouldn’t require digging up a patch of lawn, and that we could pull out and play with any time we wanted.
The mess is contained, it’s easy to set up and clean up, and it provides hours of fun, learning, and entertainment right here in our backyard.
I present to you, our MOBILE MUD PATCH!
Yep, that’s right! Â I converted our wheelbarrow into a mud pit for a few days!
It was so simple to do, and the kids played with it for hours.
It served as a mud kitchen for making mud-pies and other muddy delectables, it served as a quarry and a construction site, and it also just provided the kids with a place to dig their hands into some muddy goo, and shovel and slop the mud into buckets and pails to their hearts’ delight.
How to make a mobile mud-patch:
Grab a wheel barrow. Â Push it into the perfect place in your yard, and mix up some mud!
How to make mud for mud play:
I make our play mud with a mixture of  2/3 potting soil, 1/3 sandbox sand, and a generous splash of water.
I get the kids involved in mixing it in buckets in the backyard.
A wheelbarrow is a great alternative to a permanent mud pit
Tools and Toys for muddy play
We filled our wheelbarrow up with a healthy helping of mud and added shovels, scoops, trucks and diggers. We added  a piece of wood for a ramp, and ta-da… we had a quarry.
I placed a short plank across one end of the wheel-barrow to serve as a baking counter, and set out utensils, dishes, sticks, flowers, stones for making and decorating mud pies and cakes.
You can also add stale-dated pantry items like we did here.
Add “running water” to your play space
I wanted the children to have a source of water in the mud kitchen, but a blast from the garden hose into the mud can be a little disastrous, so I brought out the water-jug that we take camping.
The spigot was easy enough for even the littlest hands to turn off and on, and the Hooligans LOVED having complete control over “running water” in their play area.
Troweling bricks – another fun mud play idea:
Another great idea that I borrowed from a post I saw on Let the Children Play, was a “brick-laying” activity.
We’ve had a stack of old bricks sitting behind our shed for years. I set a bunch of them out on a vinyl table cloth with trowels and spatulas and a big bowl of mud, and the kids had a blast slapping on the mud, and stacking the bricks.
Even my own big Hooligans got in on some of the muddy action.
Playing in the mud and getting dirty is an important and unforgettable part of childhood.
There’s nothing quite like squishing your fingers and toes in it, and for little ones, there’s always the thrill that comes with simply getting messy.
Drop us a line and let us know how your little ones play with mud. Â We’d love to hear how you have fun getting messy in your yard!
Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.
Â
Kierna
Love it – especially the bricks, mmmmm note to self – ‘find’ some bricks!!
Ms. Jessi
Glorious indeed! That looks like they played for hours and would ask for it again and again! Thanks for linking on LINK YOUR MESS! Glad you found me!
happyhooligans
I’m glad I found you too, Ms. Jessi! Thanks for hosting LINK YOUR MESS!
stephanie a.
I wholeheartedly agree–GLORIOUS mud!!!
Laura
OOOOO! This looks marvelous! I LOVE it!
mermaid
I love this brick thing too 🙂
Lisa
hi there, love the idea. But you do know that it’s very dangerous for children to play in potting mix?
happyhooligans
I’ve heard of rare cases of potting mix being inhaled, but with it being wet, and mixed with mud before the children handle it, that risk would be eliminated.