Today’s fun was setting up an outdoor play kitchen. I’ve been wanting to do this activity with my group forever & finally got to it! I put the older group in charge of setting up our kitchen. They moved tables, brought sand and water toys, helped arrange materials and fill the “sink”, which was their idea!

It’s a great way to clean out the pantry of odds and ends and use up things like an odd amount of pancake mix, rice, stale chips, old sprinkles, outdated foods, handfuls of this & that. Also, my husband brought home some strange items that were being given away at work – boxed milk, canned applesauce, a box of tomato soup. It’s true, it could be used, but some of it is unappealing! (I made him try the milk – he decided it wasn’t very good!)

The kids love playing with it and they “cooked” up lots of mixtures that ultimately went in the compost bin. We made a big mess and had lots of fun! I heard such things as “That feels neat!” “It actually smells good.” “It looks like….”

What was especially noticeable, was that it was fun and engaging, for a good two hours, for both the younger and the older kids. My group of eight ranged from {almost} 10 years down to 2 years old and they all enjoyed it. We started before lunch, took a lunch break, refilled ingredients and played again after lunch!

A parent stopped by and noted, “They’re so busy and serious!” They were. Rather quiet even, because they were busy working! We’ll be doing this again. It’s “super fun”!

{Discussion on food use in the Early Childhood Classroom at Teach Preschool}
I washed clothes during nap time. It was worth it!

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