Dear Reader,
I know, I know. Another classic activity. But I don’t know how you can really go wrong (in your kids’ eyes) by letting them bang on pans… I say that, but all the noise totally made one of my toddlers cry. One more reason I think the poor girl has another ear infection (she doesn’t always get fevers with them, but she does get them a lot). Eventually, she did get in on the fun, so who knows, maybe it just startled her.
As far as prep, well it’s as easy as grabbing some pans (preferably not the ones you’ll need for dinner that night, because I don’t consider toddlers all that sanitary and if you don’t need the pan for dinner it gives you the ability to wash the pan on your terms) and some kitchen spoons and showing them a time or two that it’s okay to bang on the pans. personally, I wasn’t worried about denting my pans because I don’t figure toddlers are really all that strong, and because I figured that either my pans could handle it, or they weren’t really good pans, anyway. And I have to say that even my weak pans are dent free. Not that I don’t think there’s some risk involved (please don’t blame me, do this activity at your own risk), but that I figured the activity would be fun enough without much damage.
the girls all loved it, including big sister! And she was great at showing them what to do.
I’d say the activity was a success as it kept them all entertained long enough to get dinner started (another reason to use pans you won’t need for dinner)! You’d figure the noise would be a nuisance but it didn’t actually bother me that bad. Maybe because I expected it, though. And doing the activity on carpet definitely helped. And, bonus! It cost me nothing.
Even greater, when you let imagination take charge, your older daughter will make a delicious toy soup for you! haha. Who knew you were signing up for dinner and a serenade!
We won’t mention how creepy it is to “eat soup” with a humanoid figure in it…
Anyway, I hope all is well with you and yours.
