Outdoor play has been neglected in Portuguese Early Childhood Education (ECE) practices (Bento & Portugal, 2019; Ramos, 2025) in spite of a favorable normative and curricular framework (Bento & Costa, 2018), exemplary practices (Bilton, Bento, & Dias, 2017; Bento & Costa, 2022) and acknowledgment of the privileged relationship between outdoor environments and children’s play (Sandseter, Storli, & Sando, 2020). In initial teacher education, connected to the final report of the Masters’ Degree, several small, practitioner studies have looked into the transformation of spaces and ways of promoting a frequent and educational use of the outdoors. This has allowed future ECE teachers to develop deeper reflection and practical competencies regarding play outdoors. A study developed with a practitioner research approach during initial teacher education explored the involvement of parents and families in the creation of a mud kitchen as motivation to rethink play outdoors. The school was located in an urban context and served 5 groups of children that shared the outdoor space with 8 classes of primary education. The study was developed with one group of 25 children and their parents, the teacher and the 4 assistants that contacted with the children. The involvement was established since the beginning of the project of creating the mud kitchen, and spanned throughout the process of creating, using, and maintaining the space. Parents were present at the school to prepare the space but also to share it with their children. The records of the participation and children’s exploration of the space were created through participant observation, supported by photos and field notes, a survey to the parents, and individual interviews with parents, teachers, and assistants. The data analysis combined all the sources and was based on a thematic content analysis. The results show that parents highly valued play, particularly in connection to nature. All adults connected the play in the mud kitchen to well-being and involvement, as well as motor and social skills development. The open nature of many of the materials chosen for the space was highlighted as positive, offering many affordances as throw-able, strike-with-able, dig-with-able, break-able, squash-able, pick-able, modl-able, throw-able materials (Heft, 1988), as well as inviting several instances of pretend play (Bredikyte & Brandisauskiene, 2023). The discussion looks into the implications of the results for initial teacher education, including how parental involvement created belonging and ownership of the space and play for all involved.

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