The Backyard Mud Kitchen (& Creating it's Cookin' Sign!)

The kids' backyard mud kitchen, where delicacies are made!

I'm sure I've mentioned before that I still love playing in the dirt, and I have very strong convictions regarding letting the kids get messy during their play.  So of course we have a mud kitchen in our back yard!  Put together totally with odds, ends, and extras (old kids workbench, roll top desk, toy and real dishes, etc.) this "toy" sees a lot of use.  The kids love to get mud from the old garden area after our sprinkler system has been on and make mud pies and cakes, decorated with flowers from our flower garden.  Every few weeks they will use a batch of dirt dough and bake their creations in the sun.

They have a nice little set up, I think, with an extra broom, old mop and a rug.  It all looks pretty inviting, and many hours certainly have been spent there!  Lately however, I have felt the need to spruce it up just a tad, and so I decided to make a cute sign for their kitchen.

I had an extra large cookie sheet that I couldn't use in the oven anymore (as a result of some wayward glue and filler...someone used it as a work surface!) so I figured what better thing to use to make a kitchen sign but a kitchen item?

First off, because it was metal, I wiped the entire surface on the side I was going to paint (not the ruined side!) with white vinegar, which would help the paint stick and resist peeling.

I learned this trick from my grandpa, he was quite the handyman.

Then, after working with Princess to decide what the sign would say, I took my pencil and drew in a bunch of guidelines.  Next, I started stenciling the letters.

We decided to have the sign say "The Kids Kitchen" but because I enjoy goofs and irony I decided to draw it so that it can be read "The Kitchen Kids" also, because hey, both phrases fit and make sense!

After stenciling all the words in just how we liked it (it took a few tries), I used some black acrylic paint and just roughed out the words.  Basically I just painted the larger areas.

When the paint was dry, I took a smaller brush and filled the letters in, finishing the wording.

Hmmm, still not done...

With the words finished, the sign looked good, but rather plain.  Princess suggested adding some colorful hearts and stars, which was an excellent idea!  I got out my stencils and drew them in the same way...

Already looking better!

Painted the shapes in with some yellow and pink acrylics and whala!  A cute little kitchen sign to spruce up their mud kitchen!

I nailed the sign above the mud kitchen and now it doesn't look so plain anymore :)

Pretty cute for a couple hours work!

Princess & her friend approve!

If you'd like to make something similar, here's the materials list:

Cookie sheet (the great thing?  They can be found at the dollar store!)
Vinegar and washcloth
Ruler (straight guidelines)
Large bowl (for rounded guidelines)
2 inch letter stencils (mine came with the shapes included)
Acrylic paints
Paintbrushes

It only took a couple hours total and definitely adds some pretty to draw the eye away from the whole old drawers and furniture that make up the mud kitchen!


Here's where I linked up!